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Genesis 7:11-24

In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. The rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. On the very same day Noah and Shem and Ham and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife and the three wives of his sons with them, entered the ark, they and every beast after its kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth after its kind, and every bird after its kind, all sorts of birds. So they went into the ark to Noah, by twos of all flesh in which was the breath of life. Those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the LORD closed it behind him. Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted up the ark, so that it rose above the earth. The water prevailed and increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.

This week, we’re going to look at the beginning of the Flood. Noah was told by God that the world was going to be destroyed by a global flood. He was given the dimensions of a large ship and told that he and his family, and every land dwelling, air-breathing animal would come to him to find safety on the ark. He was to prepare the ship and gather the food and God would bring the animals to him. This was all due to the great evil and violence that entertained the minds of men constantly. God had given man time to repent and the time had come to an end. Noah not only spent his time building the ark (which wouldn’t have necessarily taken the 120 years that God had given man to repent), the Bible says that he was a preacher of righteousness. All of his preaching had gone out and as the final week came to a close, no one had come to Noah looking to be saved from the Flood. The world to this point had never seen rain and will never see the amount of rain that it saw during the global Flood.

God begins the account of the deluge with an exact date. It was Noah’s 600th year of life, the second month and the seventeenth day. It was this day that the fountains of the great deep burst open and the rain began to fall. It is believe that the fountains of the great deep may have been caused by a large crack in the earth’s crust where the extremely hot mantle rock cause instantaneous superheated jets of steam to force an immense amount of water into the sky. While this is still being debated, it is a very interesting thought. The crack in the mantle would have drawn the supercontinent apart into different pieces like we see in the continents today. It would have also caused the water level to rise and the continental plates sunk. Regardless of how it happened, it happened.

As the rains began to fall, the last of the animals and people entered the ark. What happens next is amazing: The Lord shut the door behind Noah. It wasn’t Noah that closed the door of the ark. It was the Lord Himself. God had saved Noah and his family as the judgment came upon the earth. The thing about this is that all the work that Noah did wouldn’t have been worth anything if the door wasn’t closed. God is the One who saved Noah. He warned him of the coming Flood, prepared him and gave him the plans for the ark, and then shut the door when the rains came. As the door was shut, the rains continued. They poured down in a deluge, causing the water level to rise rapidly. The splitting plates would have caused the level to rise faster and would have continued to throw more rain into the air as the molten rock contacted the cold water. We are told that the rains lasted for forty days and forty nights and that the water continue to increase, lifting the ark up so that it “rose above the earth”. We are told that the water continued to prevail upon the face of the earth and raised the ark to a level unknown by anyone before this.

There are many who mock those of us who believe the Bible when it talks about a global Flood. Many who try to  discount the Flood of the Bible have come up with many excuses to try and explain away the truth of God’s judgment, but none of them hold up to the scriptures. Some say that the Flood wasn’t global and was instead a local flood. Think about this for a minute. If the Flood was local and not global, then why would God have told Noah about the judgment and had him build the ark? Noah had 120 years before the waters came. That’s plenty of time for Noah and his sons and their wives to move out of the area of the Flood. But, there are other problems. God was using the Flood to judge the earth for the wickedness of mankind. If the Flood was a local flood, then those who are able would have been able to get away from the flood just like Noah did. There would have been many that escaped the judgment of God when all of them were under His wrath. Another problem with the local flood idea is the fact that water finds its own level. This means that you can’t contain water in a certain areas when there are gaps in the container. The mountain range where Noah lived wasn’t a sealed container. Because of this, the water would have rushed out of the gaps and the level of the Flood would have been much lower than it should have been and again would have allowed many to escape God’s judgment. This is not what the scripture says. God said that He would judge all flesh for their wickedness and violence except those who were in the ark.

The main problem with the local flood is found in the scriptures themselves. Taking a look at the beginning of the account, we see important indicators that the Flood was global (emphasis mine):

The water prevailed more and more upon the earth, so that all the high mountains everywhere under the heavens were covered. The water prevailed fifteen cubits higher, and the mountains were covered. All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind; of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died. Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark. The water prevailed upon the earth one hundred and fifty days.

These words mean exactly what they do in English. “All” means all, “everything” means everything, “every” means every. Look at those words again. All of the high mountains everywhere under the heavens. How could you get a “local” flood out of this? All the mountains everywhere were covered. Then, once the were covered, the water rose another 15 cubits. If it is a “short” cubit (18 inches) that would be another 22.5 feet. If this was a “long” cubit (20 inches), it would have been another 25 feet above the highest mountains. Again, how can you get a “local” flood out of this? It says that the water cover the earth. Not only that, it says that all flesh that moved on the earth perished. It says that God blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land and that only Noah was left. If it was a local flood and not a global Flood, how would all the flesh ON THE PLANET have died? How could Noah and his family be the only ones that survived the Flood? The Bible, seemingly written with the understanding that men would mock the Flood of Noah (see 2 Peter ), makes it clear that it was a global Flood. If you disagree with the truth of a global Flood, then you also have to disagree with the epistles that Peter wrote. In both of them, he uses the Flood as an example of the coming judgment of God upon all of the ungodly. If this is not true of the Flood, then Peter’s example breaks down and has no meaning.

But, this is not the case at all. The judgment of God through the Flood was real and it was global. It was a sign of God’s justice in the Flood itself, but it was a sign of His mercy in allowing man so much time to come to Him in repentance. Just like the days of Noah, there is coming a time when God will judge the earth again. He will not break His promise and do it with water again; this time, He will do it with fire. The Bible says that the times will be just like the days of Noah. Men will be evil, they will eat, drink, and marry. And just like that time, the judgment of God will come upon man unexpectedly. All of those who are not born again through repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ will find themselves standing before God and being found guilty and cast into hell. Is that you? Are you born again? Have you entered the ark of salvation found in Jesus Christ? If not, are you willing to risk your eternal life for the temporary fun of sin? Believe me, it’s not worth it. The short time of joy that you find in your sin will be erased in a heartbeat as the flames of hell burn through you for eternity. Please, while there is still time, repent of your sins and put your faith completely in Jesus Christ to save you. Don’t wait for tomorrow, for you may not have the time….