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"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" 2 Timothy 2v15

Noah and the Worldwide Flood

Bible Reading: Genesis chapters 6-9

"But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Matthew 24v37)

 

Was there really a worldwide flood? Surely Noah's flood is just a children's story? Is there any evidence for Noah's flood outside the Bible? Where did all the waters come from for the flood? Where did all the floodwaters go? How did Noah get all the animals? How did all the animals fit on Noah's ark? What about the dinosaurs? Who shut the door? How could Noah survive with his 'floating zoo' for over a year? What about other flood stories that do not agree with the Biblical account? These and many other questions puzzle the mind when we think of the global flood of Noah's day as a fact. Let us turn to the Bible and see what God has to say to us on the subject. Remember God was there so He ought to know.

Why did God send the Flood?

The 'sons of God' (Genesis 6v1-4) need not mean aliens or angels. Simply the descendants of Seth intermarried with the descendants of Cain. Remember the line of Seth was the line that led to the Promised Messiah (Christ), and they ought to have maintained godly worship and godly living. However they married the 'daughters of men' indiscriminately, basing their choice solely on outward appearance, without concern for godliness. The outcome was a generation that did not love God or walk in His ways.

As the Creator looked down on the world He had made - what a mess it was in - "the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth" (Genesis 6v5, 11-13). All sorts of wickedness, violence, killings, and immorality abounded. People's thoughts were only evil all the daylong. This was not the way God had created the world to be; but man's sin had ruined it. Even some of the animals were killing each other.

All this wickedness so grieved the Lord that He decided to judge the world for its sin (Genesis 6v3, 6, 7, +13). The word 'repented' (v6) does not mean that God made a mistake but rather it is a human emotion applied to God in order to convey to us the pain that sin causes to God. All sin grieves God. The Holy God must punish sin (Romans 6v23)

"And the LORD said, My Spirit shall not always strive with man" (Genesis 6v3). It would be 120 years from that time until God sent the flood to judge the world. God in His mercy gave mankind 120 years to repent of their sin, during which time Noah would build the ark.

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Noah Builds the Ark

Noah - God's Man

Noah stands out in sharp contrast to all the other men of his day. Consider what God says concerning him:

  • Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6v8). Grace is 'the unmerited favour of God' - kindness that we just do not deserve. Salvation is by Grace alone through faith (Eph 2v8+9).

  • Noah was different from the other men of his day - Noah was a just man and perfect (upright, blameless) and he walked with God (Genesis6v9), like his great grandfather Enoch. While other men chose to forsake God and pursue all sorts of sinful practices, Noah followed hard after his Lord. It was his faith in God that made Noah different from other men and through which he obtained righteousness (Hebrews 11v7).

  • God gave Noah the perfect plans for the ark (Genesis 6v14-21). The ark was big enough to hold 2 of every kind of land animals, including dinosaurs, and birds, as well as food. Also, it had to survive the flood. Building the ark was the special work the LORD gave His godly workman to do.

  • Noah believed God and obeyed God (Gen6v22; Heb 11v7), despite the massive task God set him to do and despite all the scoffing from the people.

  • Noah preached while he prepared the ark (2 Peter 2v5). This shows he cared about other people's salvation. He warned of coming judgement and urged people to repent of their wickedness and come on board. He only saw his family saved.

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How big was the Ark?

Genesis 6v14-16 The ark measured 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high with 3 stories. Taking the cubit to be 18 inches, this means the ark was 450x75x45 feet. It was a massive floating barge that was designed by God, and built to stay afloat during the violent storms and huge waves of the worldwide flood. There would have been plenty of room for all the animals and food on board Noah's ark. The animals were kept in rooms/nests/stalls. The ark was pitched within and without to waterproof it. There was only one door into the ark and it was placed in the side of the ark.

Noah's ark is the largest floating vessel known to have been built until the 19th century. God gave the dimensions for the ark. The ratio of the ark's dimensions would have made it an enormously stable vessel, able to resist being overturned even in the most massive seas.

Most stories depict Noah's ark as small and overcrowded, full of happy animals. However, this is not the ark that is described in the Bible. The ark that Noah built was massive with plenty of room for all the animals taken on board. An ark built like this 'cute' ark would have capsized easily in rough water. God designed the ark to withstand the flood. The 'cute' ark pictures look like something out of a fairy tale but Noah's ark was no fairy tale!

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What Animals went into the Ark?

Genesis 6v19-21; 7v1-3 Two of every 'kind' of land animal, bird, and creeping thing went on board the ark (Genesis 6v19-20). Noah did not need to take sea creatures on board the ark - they could survive in the floodwaters. However, the turbulent waters carrying sediment would cause massive carnage, as seen in the fossil record, and probably some oceanic creatures did become extinct because of the flood.

Noah was to take 7 of every kind of clean animal and bird on board the ark (Genesis 7v2-3). The Bible defines 'clean' animals as those that both chew the cud and divide the hoof (Leviticus 11; Deuteronomy 14). Animals such as cattle, sheep, and goats, which were used for sacrifice, were among the clean animals. One of the first things that Noah did when he came out of the ark was to sacrifice animals (Genesis 8v20) - so there had to be more than 2 of each sort of sacrificial animal on board! Also, perhaps God preserved more clean animals to allow greater variety within the 'kind' for breeding purposes.

The Biblical 'kind' is wider than species. Perhaps dogs, wolves, coyotes, and jackals are all descended from the one Biblical 'kind' - so only one pair of their common ancestor would have needed to go on board the ark. All the variation within the different 'kinds' developed after the flood. Remember, variation within a kind is NOT evolution.

God brought the animals to Noah (".two of every sort shall come to thee" Genesis 6v20). God knew that there was just no way Noah could round up 2 of every sort (and 7 of the clean kinds) of land animal, bird, and creeping thing by himself, so the Lord caused the animals to come to Noah. Also, the Almighty God would have brought young, strong, healthy, fertile animals to Noah, that they could go out after the worldwide flood and repopulate the earth.

Noah gathered the food to take on board - enough for his family and the animals (Genesis 6v21). This was a task that Noah and his family could fulfil, so God left them to do it.

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How could Dinosaurs fit on the Ark?

When people think of dinosaurs they immediately think of the huge dinosaurs like brachiosaurus (who was about 39 feet tall, 75 feet long and weighed up to 75 tons) or tyrannosaurus rex (who was about 20 feet tall, 50 feet long, and weighed 6 or 7 tons). This, coupled with their mental picture of Noah's ark being small, makes them assume that there was just no way dinosaurs could have fitted on the ark. However

  • Not all dinosaurs were massive like brachiosaurus or tyrannosaurus-rex. Compsognathus was only about the size of a hen. The average size of dinosaurs was the size of a sheep approx. The eggs of even the largest dinosaurs were no bigger than about the size of a football, so all young dinosaurs were quite small.

  • The Bible does not say that the animals had to be fully grown. The animals that were to be saved on the ark were going to repopulate the earth after the flood. It is therefore quite probable that God did not send Noah big old stiff 'granny and granddad' dinosaurs, but rather that He sent him young strong healthy 'teenager' dinosaurs.

  • There were NOT too many dinosaurs to fit on the ark. Although scientists have made up over 600 names of dinosaurs, there were probably less than 50 KINDS of dinosaurs.

There was plenty of room for dinosaurs and all the other animals on the huge ark described in the Bible. That's why God told Noah to build such a massive ark.

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Who shut the door?

Genesis 7v16 There was only one door unto the ark. This door had to be very big to allow all the various kinds of animals to enter through it. Noah and his family would have had difficulty pulling a big, heavy door shut, so God shut the door.

Only those inside the ark would be saved, so all who would be saved from the judgement of the flood had to go through the door. Jesus Christ is the only Door to salvation (John 10v9; 14v6), and if we are to be saved from our sins we must come to God through Him alone.

When God shuts a door, no man can open it (cp. Revelation 3v7). The opportunity to be saved was over. The people outside the ark had refused to repent of their sin and accept God's provision of salvation, so they died in the worldwide flood. Those inside the ark were safe from the storm.

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The Worldwide Flood

How much of the earth was covered with water?

Some people claim that the flood of Noah's time was only a local flood, which was confined to somewhere around the Mesopotamian region and never really covered the whole earth. They teach that it was only 'universal' and 'worldwide' to the limited extent of human habitation at that time. However, the local flood idea clearly disagrees with Scripture and faces the following problems:

1. The need for the Ark

If the flood were local, there was no need for Noah to spend 120 years building an ark. God could have told Noah and his family to flee to a particular area to escape the flood, as He warned Lot to flee to escape the judgement of Sodom. I'm sure Noah and his family would have made it to a safe region in a lot less time than 120 years! Land animals and birds could have migrated out of the danger zone, rather than enduring over a year on a barge.

2. The size of the Ark

If the flood were local, why was the ark big enough to hold all the different 'kinds' of land animals and birds? If only Mesopotamian animals were aboard, or only domestic animals, the ark could have been much smaller. The size of the ark only makes sense if the Flood were global.

3. The Testimony of Scripture Genesis chapters 6-9

  • God said that He would destroy 'all flesh' 'with the earth' (Genesis 6v13). This clearly implies a global flood.

  • Carefully read Genesis chapters 6-9, noting the use of the words 'earth' and 'flood', as well as the use of universal words like 'all' and 'every'. As you carefully consider these words within the context of this passage, you will have to conclude that this was no local flood.

  • The use of the universal terms 'all' and 'whole' in Genesis 7v19-20 emphasises that every mountain under the entire heavens was covered with water, and lest there should still be any doubt in the reader's mind the concluding clause 'and the mountains were covered' is added.

  • The mountains were covered to a depth of at least 15 cubits (Genesis 7v20). As water seeks its own level, and every mountain under the entire heavens was covered with water to a depth of at lest 15 cubits, how was it not a global flood?

  • Genesis 7v21-24 very strongly emphasises that every person, land animal, and bird not in the Ark was drowned in this great global flood.

4. The Duration of the Flood

After 40 days the flood had covered all the mountains and continued to do so until 150 days from the onset, when the waters started to subside and the Ark grounded on Ararat. About 10 weeks later only the mountain peaks were seen. Noah, his family, and the animals were on that Ark altogether for over a year (cp.Genesis 7v10-12, 17-20,21; 8v1-5, 13-19). How could a flood of such depth and duration only cover a portion of the earth's surface?

5. The Rainbow Covenant

(Genesis 8v21; 9v11-15)

God promised to never send such a flood again. This promise has been broken repeatedly if only a local flood occurred.

6. Jesus Christ taught that the Judgement was Universal

If the flood were local, people who did not happen to be living in the vicinity would not have been affected by it. They would have escaped God's judgement on sin. Jesus Christ taught that the Flood killed everyone not on the ark (Matthew 24v37-39; Luke 17v26-27). Those who believe in a local flood generally say that people were on earth for tens of thousands of years before the Flood. If this were so, it is inconceivable that all the people could have fitted in a localised valley in Mesopotamia, or that they had not migrated further afield as the population grew and violence increased.

7. Noah's Flood is a type of Coming Judgement (2 Peter 3v3-7).

A partial judgement in Noah's day would mean a partial judgement to come. However, Peter is clearly seeking to show that, just as God judged the entire earth in Noah's day by a worldwide flood, so God will one day judge this entire world by fire.

Thus, the Genesis Flood covered the entire earth and destroyed every person outside the shelter of Noah's Ark. It was not a local flood confined to the Mesopotamian Valley and destroying only those within its reach.

How was Mount Everest covered?

Mount Everest is more than 8km (5 miles) high, so how could it have been covered with water? The mountains before the flood were not as high as the mountains today. Noah's Flood changed the geography of this world. Even the high mountains of today have fossils of sea creatures near their peaks. There are fossil-bearing, water-deposited layers in the uppermost parts of Mount Everest.

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Where did all the Water come from?

Genesis 7v11-12 tells us that the 2 sources for the waters were:

1. The fountains of the great deep

Notice "all the fountains of the great deep were broken up." When we read the 'fountains of the great deep' we understand that there was some source of water that came from below the ocean. God had previously restrained these, but He let them all loose in the judgement of the world in Noah's day. Geysers of water, lava, and hot steam would have shot up from the earth as the 'fountains of the great deep' were broken up. After the waters covered the earth, and the world became one great ocean, the volcanic eruptions continued beneath the water for the continued period of 150 days (Genesis 8v2-3). Massive walls of rushing water (tidal waves) would have resulted and caused vast destruction. This was no mere local flood. The earth was destroyed (2 Peter 3v6) and it would never look the same again as it did before the Flood.

2. The Windows of Heaven

"The windows (or floodgates) of heaven were opened." This phrase refers to the miraculous intervention of God in sending rain. This was no ordinary rainfall - it was a torrential rainfall, the like of which had never been experienced before the flood and probably never after.

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How did Noah Care for all the Animals on board?

Scientists estimate that large dinosaurs like Apatosaurus may have eaten up to 2000 pounds of vegetation per day, so how could Noah have had the vast amounts of food on board for these big animals? How did Noah stop the carnivores eating other animals on the Ark? What about ventilation and exercise?

  • It must be remembered that this was an emergency situation where God was in control. God gave the plans for the massive barge which was plenty big enough to house all the animals and food necessary for the duration of the flood. God brought the animals to Noah. God kept all those on board the Ark alive, for they were to go out after the flood to repopulate the world.

  • It is possible that many of the animals went into hibernation during this great catastrophe, and therefore would have required less care.

  • God would have guided Noah as to the correct types and amounts of food to take on board (Genesis 6v21). Noah probably fed the animals on grain and hay. Remember God created all animals vegetarian (Genesis 1v29-30), but some animals began to eat each other as the result of the Fall. Only after the Flood did God permit man to eat meat (Genesis 9v3).

  • The 3 stories of the Ark were divided into rooms (Genesis 6v14), which provided plenty of room for food and nests/stalls for the different kinds of animals. No fighting was allowed onboard! Only after the flood did the animals have a fear of man (Genesis 9v2).

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What Happened during Noah's Flood?

(Please remember to count 30 days in a month).

Scripture

Date

What Happened

Genesis 7v1-9 Noah was 600 years old. Waited in the ark for 7 days. God told Noah to enter the ark with all the animals. They obeyed and waited 7 days. God closed the door
Genesis 7v10-8v4 In the 600th year of Noah's life, on the 17th day of the 2nd month All the fountains of the great deep burst open. Windows of heaven opened - rained 40 days and 40 nights. Waters increased and ark lifted up. All high mountains everywhere under the heavens covered. All land animals and birds perished. Waters prevailed 150 days.
Genesis 8v4-5a 17th day of the 7th month Ark rested on the mountains of Ararat. Waters decreased steadily.
Genesis 8v5b 1st day of the 10th month Mountains become visible.
Genesis 8v6-9 40 days later Noah sent out a raven, which did not return. Then he sent out a dove, which returned as the ground was still covered with water. (The raven could feast on carcases but the dove needed vegetation)
Genesis 8v10-11 7 days later Sent out dove again, which brought back olive leaf. (Vegetation was beginning to grow again)
Genesis 8v12 7 days later Sent out dove again and this time she did not return.
Genesis 8v13 1st day of the 1st month, in the 601st year Noah looked and saw that the surface of the earth was dried up.
Genesis 8v14-22 27th day of the 2nd month God told Noah to leave the Ark. Noah sacrifices/worships. Rainbow Covenant established (Genesis9v8-17).

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Where did all the Waters go after the Flood?

The process of evaporation as a result of the tremendous wind that God sent (Genesis 8v1) would not have been sufficient to return all the fallen water back to the skies, without even mentioning the water from the 'fountains of the great deep.' If the waters are still here, why are the highest mountains not still covered with water, as they were in Noah's day?

Psalm 104v5-9 suggests an answer. A more literal translation of Psalm 104v8a is "the mountains rose; the valleys sank down." After the waters covered the mountains (v6), God rebuked them and they fled (v7); the mountains rose, the valleys sank down (v8) and God set a boundary so that they will never again cover the whole earth (v9). Isaiah 54v9 also tells us that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. The waters of Noah's flood are in today's oceans.

By the power of Almighty God, the continents were uplifted and the ocean beds dropped. This caused the waters to flee away to the place that God had founded for them. The deepening of the ocean basins and the rising of the continents would have occurred after the 150 days (Genesis 8v1-5), and been largely completed during the Flood year, accounting for the gradual decrease of the floodwaters described in Genesis chapter 8.

As the mountains rose and the valleys sank down, this means that the present-day mountains are higher than pre-flood mountains and the present-day oceans are deeper than pre-flood oceans.

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Is there any Evidence of a Worldwide Flood?

Fossils

  • Fossils are the remains of formerly living plants and animals, which have been buried and preserved in the earth's crust.

  • Most people believe that fossils are millions of years old and that the rock layers in which they are found represent evolutionary stages. Evolutionists claim that the order in the fossil record (e.g. trilobites deep down and humans near the top) is proof that life has evolved from simple forms to the complex forms.

  • However, creationists believe that most of the fossils were formed during the global flood recorded in Genesis, and that the order in the fossil record is due to the order in which things were buried.

  • "If there really was a worldwide flood, what would the evidence be? Billions of dead things buried in rock layers, laid down by water, all over the earth." This is exactly what we do find in our world and it is a silent witness to the worldwide flood recorded in Genesis. When God sent His judgement upon the sinful world of Noah's day, all the people, land animals and birds outside the ark were drowned (Genesis 7v21-23). No doubt some sea creatures also died in the massive carnage - the fossil record shows evidence of this.

  • As the fountains of the great deep broke forth with volcanic action and powerful tidal waves moved across the whole world, tons of earth and rocks were ripped up and moved by the Floodwaters and deposited in layers. The remains of dead plants and animals were buried in mud layers. These layers later dried and became rocks with fossilized remains in them.

  • When these layers (strata) were still soft, they could be bent like clay and pushed upward into huge mountains by the earth movements during Noah's Flood. Most of today's mountains are made of many layers of mud, now turned to rock, stacked on top of each other by water. Many of the other tall mountains we see now are volcanoes that erupted and grew taller during and after the Flood.

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How could the Flood produce order in the Fossil Record?

  1. The Burial Order A global Flood beginning with the breaking up of the fountains of the great deep would tend to bury bottom-dwelling sea creatures and the less mobile creatures first. They are abundant in the fossil record. As the waters rose to envelope the land, land creatures would be buried last. Also, water plants would tend to be buried before land-based swamp plants, which, in turn would be buried before upland plants. The more mobile and intelligent creatures would tend to survive the Flood longest and be buried last. They could escape to higher ground. Their remains would have been vulnerable to erosion by receding floodwaters. Hence their remains tend to be destroyed. People would have clung to rafts, logs etc. until the very end and would have been last to succumb to the Floodwaters. Their carcases would then tend to bloat, float, and be scavenged by fish. Dead animals must be buried rapidly to form fossils in order to protect them from scavengers, decay, and weather conditions.

  2. Another factor is the Sorting Action of Water. Moving water tends to sort material carried by it and then deposit this material in layers. The more streamlined and more dense (compact) bodies sink deepest. Although bigger rocks tend to be sorted to the bottom, larger shellfish, for example, are overall less dense than smaller ones and could be deposited after smaller ones in a sorting situation.

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Some Problems in the Fossil Record!

  1. Fossil Graveyards In various parts of the world great fossil graveyards, containing fossils of all kinds of different climates and habitats. These great conglomerations of living and extinct plants, fishes, reptiles, birds, and mammals, all deposited together and fossilized, could never be explained in any present process working at present rates. A remarkable characteristic of the fossils in these graveyards is that many show signs of violent and sudden death. The powerful currents and the violent tidal waves associated with the Genesis Flood account for the violent destruction of organisms and their mass burial, followed by rapid fossilization.

  2. Out-of-sequence Fossils i.e. fossils that are found in strata to which they do not belong according to the evolutionary time-scale. Sometimes "young" fossils are found in "old" rocks and vice versa. The Bible accords with the general growth in complexity in the fossil record and yet provides peculiar conditions to cause exceptions to that general rule. Major catastrophe such as the Genesis Flood, with its powerful currents moving in various directions at different rates, provides many peculiar conditions to cause deviation from the natural procedure.

  3. Polystrate Fossils e.g. tree trunks running through strata supposedly representing millions of years (these are common in coal) show that the strata must have been deposited in quick succession, otherwise the tops of the trunks would have rotted away. This is consistent with layers being deposited quickly during the Genesis Flood.

  4. Living Fossils There are instances where "old" and supposedly extinct fossils have unexpectedly appeared in the modern world e.g. coelecanth, a type of fish which was supposed to have been extinct for 70 million years, has been discovered alive looking exactly like its ancestor. Living fossils disprove evolution as they do not differ from their ancestors and they establish the fact that all living things reproduce "after their kind".

Fossil Fuels

The worldwide Flood not only produced fossils, it also produced "fossil fuels" - coal, oil, gas. Untold billions of plants and living creatures were rapidly converted to fossil fuels by the tremendous pressure and heat from their burial under billions of tons of mud and water. Whole forests were ripped out off the ground by the Floodwaters and parts of them were later buried to form large beds of coal, while other organisms were buried in such a way that they turned into oil and gas.

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Worldwide Flood Stories

There is striking evidence that all peoples from many cultures on earth have come from Noah, found in the Flood stories from many cultures around the world - North and South America, South Sea Islands, Australia, Papua New Guinea, Japan, China, India, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. Hundreds of such stories have been gathered.

The stories closest to the area of dispersion from Babel (Genesis 11v1-9) are nearest in detail to the Biblical account. Wherever people went, they would have told their children the story of Noah and the Great Flood. As time went on, some storytellers would add to or change the true story. Hence, many flood stories exist today.

The remarkable similarities in these flood legends could not have arisen from mere local floods happening at various times in different countries. They are distorted versions of the true account. God made sure that the true account of the Genesis Flood was preserved for us in His Word.

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The New World

Noah, his family and the animals came out of the ark to a very different world. There were no great herds of animals or no large forests but the vegetation was beginning to grow again. The mountains were now higher than before the flood and the climate had changed. The old world had perished and the earth was so changed by the global Flood that it would never look the same again. Noah and his family would not have recognised familiar sites and places that they had known in the old world. It was not a matter of them returning to their home to continue a previous lifestyle.

As Noah looked around at the desolation, the first thing he did was build an altar and worship God (Genesis 8v20). He wanted to thank God for His protection - God had been so good to him and his family. He sacrificed one of every 'clean' animal and bird (remember 7 of each clean kind was on the ark). This pointed forward to the time when the Sinless Saviour would offer Himself a sacrifice for the sins of the world.

God blessed Noah and gave him some instructions for life in the new world:

  1. God wanted the earth to be populated (Genesis 9v1+7). It was always God's plan for the earth to be filled (Genesis 1v28).

  2. Fear of man put into animals (Genesis 9v2). Man's relationship with animals changed after the flood.

  3. Permitted to eat meat (Genesis 9v3-4). All creatures were originally vegetarian (Genesis 1v29-30). The fossil record shows evidence of some creatures eating other creatures, and we know that death is the result of Adam's sin (Genesis2v17; Romans 5v12), so some animals were already eating meat since the Fall of man (Genesis 3). However, God now permitted mankind to eat meat, as well as fruit, vegetables, herbs, etc. Perhaps it was difficult for Noah's family to get proper nutrition from plants growing in the flood-eroded soil. Or maybe many plants, which had formerly provided all the protein, vitamins and minerals essential for mankind, had become extinct in the Flood. Whatever the reason, God permitted mankind to eat meat from this point on.

  4. Murder forbidden (Genesis 9v5-6 cp. Exodus 20v13). The reason for the sanctity of human life is that man was created in the image of God (Genesis 9v6; 1v26-27).

  5. Rainbow Covenant (Genesis 9v8-17). This is God's covenant with every living creature that He will never again destroy the earth with a worldwide flood. There have been local floods but there will never be a worldwide flood again. The sign of the covenant is the rainbow. Next time you see the rainbow, remember God's loving promise.

  6. Promise of fixed times and seasons (Genesis8v20) for as long as the earth remains.

At first, life may have been tough for Noah's family and the animals in the new world. Note:

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Climatic Changes

  • Most creationists do think that pre-Flood atmospheric pressure and water vapour levels were higher than now, with a resultant milder climate, but certainly not high enough to account for the Flood waters, the primary source of which was the breaking up of the 'fountains of the deep.'

  • Creation scientists tell us that conditions immediately after the Flood may have led to the onset of the Ice Age i.e. warm oceans and cold continents, causing the water that evaporated from the warm oceans to fall as snow over the cold land, without thawing in summer and thus the ice accumulated quickly. These conditions may have lasted 500-700 years. The Ice Age never covered more than one third of the earth's land surface, even at its greatest extent.

  • While the Bible does not distinctly tell us of the Ice Age, there are some hints in the book of Job. It is believed that Job lived in the centuries following the Flood. The book of Job has more references to ice, cold and snow than any other book in the Bible (cp. Job 37v9-10; 38v22-23, 29-30).

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Extinction of Dinosaurs and Other Creatures

  • Dinosaurs were created on day 6 of creation week, along with all the other kinds of land animals and man (Genesis 1v24-31). Two of every kind of land animal went on and off the ark but those outside the ark perished - this included dinosaurs (Genesis 6v19-20; 7v21-23).

  • Dinosaurs are not the only creatures to become extinct. There are many types of extinct creatures, including dodo birds, mammoths, and sabre-toothed tigers.

  • Why do animals go extinct? Here are some of the reasons - famines, droughts, floods, fire, diseases, hunting, habitats destroyed, and animals killing each other. Why did dinosaurs die out? When we believe the Bible it is no mystery. Because of sin, the Curse, and the Flood, we now have such things as famines, droughts, floods, diseases, people killing animals, and animals killing each other. In other words, the same reasons that animals become extinct today are the same reasons that dinosaurs died out.

  • Some animals would have found it increasingly difficult to survive in the new world - the climate in some places was much colder than before. As food sources may have been less, the big herbivores may have found it difficult to get enough food. People were now allowed to kill and eat animals (Genesis 9v3), so they used them for food, clothing, weapons, jewellery, etc. - and eventually some of those animals became extinct.

  • Dinosaurs died out after the Flood, not millions of years ago. It was probably just hundreds of years ago.

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Comparison to the Second Coming of Christ

  1. The time of Noah's Flood has some very important things in common with the time when Christ will return to earth. Jesus Christ compared these two events (Matthew 24v36-39; Luke 17v26-27).

  2. Both are preceded by a rise of evil. (Genesis 6v5-6, 11-13; 2 Timothy 3v1-7; Matthew 24v21-22)

  3. Both are times of worldwide judgement by God. God judged the world in Noah's day by water. One day God will judge this world by fire (2 Peter 3v7+10-13).

  4. God provides the only way of escape. God told Noah to build the ark to survive the Flood and all those outside the ark perished (Genesis 6v12; 7v23). Jesus Christ is the way to escape God's final judgement and outside of Jesus you cannot get to heaven (John 3v17; 5v24; 14v6).

  5. Invitations given to escape God's judgement. Noah is described as the "preacher of righteousness" (2 Peter 2v5) who invited people to turn from their sinfulness and come into the ark to be saved from the Flood. God invites you today to accept His free gift of salvation through faith alone in Christ (Romans 6v23; John 3v16).

  6. Many reject the only way of escape. The majority of people refused to believe Noah and may have scoffed at him and thought him crazy, but the flood killed all the people in the world except for the 8 on the ark. Many today scoff at the truth of God's Word, refusing to believe that Christ will return to earth and that the final judgement of this world will be by fire (2 Peter 3v3-7).

  7. It is too late for the people of Noah's day. It is not too late for you to escape God's final judgement.

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Conclusion

There are two opposing worldviews of the origin of rock layers and the fossils of the earth - uniformitarianism and catastrophism. 2 Peter 3v3-7 - These verses speak of the 2 opposing views:

  1. Uniformitarianism is the idea that processes we see today in the world (sedimentation, erosion, etc.) have always worked the same way. They have always been the result of natural laws that can be observed today. This requires millions and billions of years to form the structures that we see today. Thus the present is the key to the past. This idea is seen in 2 Peter 3v4 - "all things continue as they were from the beginning." Notice those who scoff at the Second Coming of Christ accept this idea (2 Peter 3v3-4).

  2. The other view is Catastrophism. A catastrophe is something that happens suddenly and usually causes great loss or suffering. Catastrophism is the idea that a large portion of the earth's geological structure was formed in a global catastrophe of short duration i.e. the Genesis Flood and all that followed. 2 Peter 3v4-5 clearly describe the Genesis Flood where the old world perished. Those who accept uniformitarianism are 'willingly ignorant' of this catastrophe. They choose not to believe in the Genesis Flood. But all things have NOT continued as they were from the beginning of creation. Hence the Bible is the key to the past.

As we look around us in our world today and view the evidence, we all have an important decision to make. You must decide whether you will side with the evolutionists, and those who scoff at Christ's Second Coming, in believing the idea of uniformitarianism OR whether you will stick with the Bible and believe in creation and the great catastrophe of the Genesis Flood that changed this world so dramatically. Remember your acceptance of uniformitarianism will NOT prevent Christ returning to this world and judging the ungodly (2 Peter 3v7). May you accept the Bible as the key to the past, present, and future, and Christ as your Only Saviour, lest you be doomed to judgement by fire with the ungodly.

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For further info on creation/evolution issues visit:

www.answersingenesis.org

www.creationontheweb.org

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