Almost every culture on Earth includes an ancient flood story. Details vary, but the basic plot is the same. They are referring to the biblical account of Noah and his ark. Genesis tells how “God saw that the wickedness of man was great” and decided to destroy all of creation. Only Noah, “who found grace in the eyes of the Lord,” his family, and the animals aboard the ark survived to repopulate the planet.

The account of the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh, records that a king who embarked on a journey to find the secret of immortality. Along the way, he met Utnapishtim, survivor of a great flood sent by the gods. Warned by Enki, the water god, Utnapishtim built a boat and saved his family and friends, along with artisans, animals, and precious metals.

Ancient Greeks and Romans grew up with the story of Deucalion and Pyhrra, who saved their children and a collection of animals by boarding a vessel shaped like a giant box. Irish legends talk about Queen Cesair and her court, who sailed for seven years to avoid drowning when the oceans overwhelmed Ireland.

European explorers in the Americas were startled by Indian legends that sounded similar to the story of Noah. Some Spanish priests feared the devil had planted such stories in the Indians’ minds to confuse them.
The Flood – Biblical Record

Vs 1 ”And the Lord said to Noah, “Come thou and all thy house into the ark: for I have seen righteousness before me in this generation” (Heb. 11:7). Christ call men to come to him today. If they do not come they can blame no one but themselves. The Lord was in the ark, he called them to come into safety with him. They would leave all their wealth all their friends and other relatives and obey God. These are eh last days of the first civilization before the Flood. God called Noah in he did not say, “go.” He called him to himself.

Vs 2-3 He was told to take seven of all the clean animals and birds. “to keep your seed alive.” These were for domestic purposes. The seventh animal was usually the sacrificial animal (Lev. 11). Just as animals today would follow the voce of their shepherd these animals obeyed the voice of God who created them. “The ox knows his owner, and the ass, his master’s crib, but Israel doth not know; my people do not consider.” (Isa. 1:3).

A Period of Grace

Vs 4-5 God gave seven days for final preparation and for man to repent. After these the flood would come. A worldwide ran would come that would last 40 days and nights. The atmosphere would change. Until this point in time the earth was under a greenhouse effect. There was a blanket of invisible vapour ”waters above the earth” and the rivers and moisture that they presented but this is the first time we read of rain. God said that everything that lived on the dry land would be wiped out. The earth would be completely cleansed in this global bath form heaven. “Every living substance “ means all in existence (Heb. kol yeyum). All that need air, beasts and plants were affected. The earth would be barren of vegetation. The great forests would become coal beds of the post-flood world.

6-9 Noah was 600 years old when the flood came. It was 1665 years, one month and seventeen days after Creation. Noah and his family and the animals went into the ark. God had to purge the earth. He graciously chose to spare a single human family and a variety of representatives from the animal kingdom to repopulate the earth after the Floodwaters receded. These eight were all that remained of the human race: Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their sons’ three wives.

The Worldwide Flood – The Historical Evidence of Universal History

Vs 10-12. The worldwide Flood came. It was a worldwide cataclysmic event that utterly devastated the earth. God had to purge the earth. The Bible records that every human to have lived since the Flood is a direct descendent of Noah’s family. Many cultures record a similar event in their history. This is because every culture descended directly from the flood’s survivors. This is why there are universal and abundant records of this event in various traditions and cultures. They have been passed down generation to generation. Literally hundreds of Flood traditions have been preserved throughout the world, abounding in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, and the Americas. Collectively, these Flood traditions serve to corroborate the Bible’s Genesis Flood account. These surviving Flood traditions include two of the oldest known stories to have survived the ravishment of time’s passage: China’s “Hihking Classic” and Babylon’s “Epic of Gilgamesh.” These Flood traditions are remarkably consistent, considering the relative isolation of the cultures, the length of time since the Flood, and the human tendency to embellish and exaggerate stories over time.

How did the Flood Happen?

Vs 11 “The fountains of the great deep.” God broke up the fountains under the earth and water surged up. And He dispersed the firmament above the earth, causing rain for forty days. The canopy of vapour that protected the earth from the sun’s harmful rays was eliminated, which immediately shortened man’s life span. These subterranean reservoirs burst forth sending waters for underneath the earth the pressure of the heat under the earth pushing the waters out. This started first and triggered the rest. “The rapid build up and surge of intense pressure caused a rise of pressure though out the system” The thermal activity must have been immense causing seismic and volcanic eruptions. The teutonic activity causing the plates to shift to let the waters gush though. There was a world chain reaction. Peter calls “flood,” a “kataklusmos” from which we get cataclysm, deluge (2 Peter2:5). It was a universal flood, that the whole world was engulfed in it.

“rain came upon the earth for forty days and nights.” “The volcanic dust that was blown skyward along with gigantic sprays of water and turbulent surges of water casing expansion and expanding and cooling of gases would have penetrated the upper canopy of the earth and trigger a chain reaction there. This caused waters to condense and coalesce and soon to start moving earthward as a torrential global downpour of rain.” (Henry Morris.)

“the windows of heaven” = the “floodgates” or “sluiceways” were suddenly opened and poured out great quantities of water.

Uniformitarianism and Catastrophism 2 Peter 3:4-6

Uniformitarianism is the view that the fossils and other features of the earth’s crust formed slowly over vast periods of time. Uniformitarianism states that current geologic processes, occurring at the same rates observed today, in the same manner, account for all of earth’s geological features. As present processes are thought to explain all past events, the Uniformitarianism slogan is “the present is the key to the past.” Uniformitarianism ignores the possibility of past cataclysmic activity upon the surface of the earth.

The scoffers in Peters day used this argument. They say, “For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.” (2 Pet. 3:4). God destroyed the world order . He did not cause the earth to go out of existence. The order , the canopy above and the waters from the deep. The word “flooded,” listen to this word, katakluzo. Sound familiar, cataclysm, means to surge over completely, means to inundate. And God basically did that. (2 Pet.3:6). They said there will never be some great cataclysmic judgmental event at the end of history because that’s not how history works. It works in absolutely consistent uniformity and immutable unchanging process. Everything just goes along the same all the time, there are no cataclysms, there are not massive earth-shaking events, there are no divine invasions, there are no supernatural judgments, everything in the world is a stable, closed, fixed system governed by never varying patterns and principles. Nothing catastrophic ever has happened, so nothing catastrophic ever will happen. (J McArthur). The prophets inform us that a great catastrophe is coming (Isa. 24:19, Micah 1:4; Malachi 4:1). The scoffers are wrong Gods word is right. The Flood was a worldwide catastrophe; it wasn’t localized. Since water, which seeks its own level, covered Mount Ararat, the Flood had to have covered the entire world. Peter “the world that then was, being overflowed with water.” The fossils and various flood accounts all corroborate the biblical record.

Catastrophism. The canopy broke up and the earth, the springs and the fountains and the sources of water burst and water came roaring out of the centre of the earth. And water came torrentially falling from the sky (Gen. 7:11). Every living thing that was on dry land that had breath of the spirit of life died (Gen. 7:11). It was a worldwide flood because it was a canopy that surrounded the whole globe. “The fountains of the deep, the flood gates of the sky at the end were closed when it ended.” (Gen. 8:2). God used the water below, and He sent the water from above crashing down upon the earth. Water came from everywhere. And this was judgment. The whole world was destroyed.

The Flood – The Evidence of Geology –The Fossil Record – Physical Evidences

The Flood explains the fossil record as it is in the earths strata. The fossil record includes billions of dead things buried in sedimentation (“laid-down-by-water rock”) found all over the earth. The theory of evolution does not. The cataclysmic view shows that fossils were formed rapidly in a short period of time by some great catastrophe, like the Flood. It is catastrophe that has made our world what it is, not uniformity. Living things do not become fossils unless they are impacted by a great catastrophic force. Catastrophe, not uniformity explains fossil records, strata. False teachers who follow evolutionary philosophy refused to face the true history. They revise or change history. They make up their own history without divine intervention so they can live like they want to live. Things have not continued as they were. There was devastating total judgment on the whole world and there will be in the future.

A fossilized plant or animal must have hard parts, such as bone, shell or wood. It must be buried quickly to prevent decay and must be undisturbed throughout the long process”. That demands a rapid catastrophe. Catastrophism is the idea that many of Earth’s crustal features (strata layers, erosion, polystrate fossils, etc) formed as a result of past cataclysmic activity. In other words, the Earth’s surface has been scarred by catastrophic natural disasters. Catastrophism is supported by actual, recorded history. The Flood was a real historical event and earth’s crust bears witness to this in many compelling ways. Geologist Dr. John Morris explains, “Sedimentary rocks, by definition, are laid down as sediments by moving fluids, are made up of pieces of rock or other material which existed somewhere else, and were eroded or dissolved and redeposited in their present location.” Over 70% of the earth’s surface rock is sedimentary rock (the rest of earth’s surface rock is volcanic igneous and metamorphic rock). In these sedimentary rock layers, geologists find some very odd features. For example, fossilized trees buried at all angles, upside-down and right side up, often passing through multiple rock layers, obviously the result of a marine cataclysm. These “polystrate” fossils (poly, meaning more than one; strate, meaning rock layer) are a worldwide phenomenon. Also consider the abundant fossil remains of marine life found atop every mountain range in the world. For example, clusters of hundreds of gigantic (300kg/650lbs) oysters found atop the Andes Mountains in South America. Even fossil remains of clams (found in the closed position, indicating they were buried alive) have been found on top Mt. Everest? Whale fossils and petrified trees that stand upright through multiple sedimentary layers supposedly separated by millions of years?

Universal Flood Legends

Nearly 300 ancient flood legends have been recorded. There are accounts of a great flood in almost every part of the world even where people have never had access to a Bible. Legends of a worldwide deluge, commonly known as the “Noachian Flood,” are found in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, North American and South America. Furthermore, earth’s sedimentary layers with the fossil record seem to suggest a past marine cataclysm.

The Flood – We’ve Just Scratched the Surface

The evidence for a worldwide flood is everywhere. The great upheaval, a sudden and unrepeatable event a cataclysmic flood whose waters erupted from worldwide, subterranean, and interconnected chambers with an energy release exceeding the explosion of ten billion hydrogen bombs is a fact. Consequences of this event included the rapid formation of the features listed below. The mechanisms involved are well-understood. Some features:

The Grand Canyon and Other Canyons, Mid-oceanic Ridge, Continental Shelves and Slopes, Ocean Trenches, Seamounts and Tablemounts, Earthquakes, Magnetic Variations on the Ocean Floor, Submarine Canyons, Coal and Oil Formations, Methane Hydrates, Ice Age, Frozen Mammoths, Major Mountain Ranges, Overthrusts, Volcanoes and Lava, Geothermal Heat, Strata and Layered Fossils, Metamorphic Rock, Limestone, Plateaus, Salt Domes, Jigsaw Fit of the Continents, Changing Axis Tilt, Comets, Asteroids and Meteroids. (H. Morris)

The Lord Shut the Door

Vs 13-16 After every sort of beast went into the ark, on the very last day on which the flood came, Noah and his family entered the ark. Once they were all inside “the Lord shut him in.” and sealed it. They were in the place of safety and protection. At that moment the ancient world was forever dead and they would live a new life in the new world. This is a type of conversion. “Old things pas away and behold all things become new.” Christ has delivered us, “that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our father” (Gal. 1:4). They were lifted above the waters of judgment and so are we. It is a “like figure” and now our baptismal waters “saved us”. (1 Pet. 3:20-21).

Scriptural Evidence for the Worldwide Flood

Vs 17-18 First it is recorded over 30 times that there was a flood (Chap. 6-9.). The Hebrew word for flood is mabbul, this word is solely used for Noah’s flood. There are other words for local floods that are not used. The ark was too large for a local flood and if it had of been a local flood then Noah and the animals could have moved to a different area why take all that time building an ark?

Vs 19-20 The waters covered the “high hills” and “all the mountains were covered.”

Vs 21-23 “All flesh died that moved upon the earth.” None could swim to dry land somewhere or fly to another part of the world for safety. “Every man died.” This means all mankind. A local flood could not reach “everyman.” Even the vegetation died but the seeds that were deposited would spring into new life.

Vs 24 The waters prevailed for 150 days and nights. No local flood continues for 150 days. Two months later the tops of the mountain could be seen (8:5). After 4 months of receding floodwaters, the dove sent out by Noah could not find dry land (8:9). It was over an entire year (7:11; 8:13) before enough land had been exposed to permit the occupants to leave the ark.

There were new cosmological conditions came into being after the flood including sharply defined seasons (8:22, the rainbow along with the rain (Gen. 9:13-14). Mans longevity began a long, slow decline immediately after the flood (Gen. 11).

Job accepted a worldwide flood (Job 12:15; 22:11).

David accepted a worldwide Flood (Ps. 29:10; 104:6-9).

Isaiah accepted a worldwide flood (Isa. 54:9)

Peter accepted a worldwide flood (1Pet. 3:20; 2 Pet. 2:5; 3:5, 6).

Paul accepted worldwide Flood (Heb. 11:7).

The Lord Jesus accepted a worldwide flood happened. (Matt. 24:37-39; Lk. 17:26, 27).