Session 5 - The flood

1. Session 5 - The flood Let’s begin with a review of the past weeks What does the Bible say? (Exodus 20:11) What about the Gap Theory? (Rev 21:1) What about the Day Age Theory (Genesis 1:30) What about Theistic Evolution and the Framework hypothesis? (Genesis 1:31) To finish let’s look at the Biblical account of the flood

2. 2 Peter 3:3-6: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,4And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.5For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:6Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:

3. Three major positions are taken; (1) the traditional, which asserts the universal, world-wide, nature of the Deluge; (2) limited or local flood theories, which narrow the scope of the Flood story to a particular geographical location in Mesopotamia (3) non-literal (symbolic) interpretation, which suggests that the Flood story is a non-historical account written to teach theological truth.

4. First, it is logically impossible to believe in a global flood and millions of years because the evolutionists claim the geological record is evidence of the latter. He didn’t see the logic of this right away, so I explained that if the rocks and fossils are evidence of millions of years and there is no evidence of the global Flood in the geological record (as the evolutionary geologists claim), then the Flood never happened in real history. In other words, a year-long global catastrophic Flood (as Genesis clearly describes), which leaves no sedimentary, erosional and fossil evidence, would be a myth.

5. Genesis 6:5-8: “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7 The Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” 8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”

6. Genesis 7:11  ”In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.” Genesis 6:13 “And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”

7. The water covered the whole Genesis 7:19 “And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.” Genesis 7:20 “Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.” How can the waters be 15 cubits above the mountains and it still be a local flood?

9. Other problems with a local flood… Why tell Noah to build a big boat? Why not just tell Noah to move? The purpose of the flood was to destroy all mankind and land animals Genesis 6:7 “ “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”

10. Jesus links the first and second judgment in Matthew 24:37-39 “Forthe coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.” Will the second judgment also be local?

11. If God promised not to send a local flood again, he broken his promise Genesis 9:11-17  “And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.”

12. Genesis 7:1 “Then the Lord said to Noah, “Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation.” God told Noah to come into the ark Genesis 8:15-16 “Then God spoke to Noah, saying, 16 “Go out of the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.” God told Noah to go out of the ark

13. The Ark is a reminder of the message of salvation. Just as Noah and his family had to go through a doorway to be saved on the Ark of salvation from the Flood, God has provided an Ark of salvation for each of us to be saved from the judgment to come, which places people in Hell. Our “Ark” today is the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9). It is interesting the way Genesis talks about Noah and his family going into the ark and coming out

14. If the Flood was local, why would birds have been sent on board? These could simply have winged across to a nearby mountain range. How does a flood destroy every bird in the world?

15. In order to accept a global flood, you must reject Psalm 104 and the inerrancy of the Bible? Psalm 104:5-9: “You who laid the foundations of the earth, Sothat it should not be moved forever, You covered it with the deep as with a garment; The waters stood above the mountains. At Your rebuke they fled; At the voice of Your thunder they hastened away. They went up over the mountains; They went down into the valleys, To the place which You founded for them. You have set a boundary that they may not pass over, That they may not return to cover the earth.”

16. We would disagree that it is a creation account as Genesis 1 is. Two verses in the psalm (Psalm 104:5, 19) refer to the events in Genesis 1. But most of the psalm speaks of the creation as it appears to the psalmist at the time he is living and writing. This is evident in the way the subject matter is described (particularly the present tense verbs). Also the psalm mentions Lebanon (Psalm 104:16), ships (Psalm 104:26), and wicked sinners (Psalm 104:35), none of which existed during the Creation Week.

17. Another reason to reject the claim that Psalm 104 is a creation account is that, contrary to what many old-earth proponents believe, Psalm 104:6–9 clearly refer to Noah’s Flood, not to the third day of Creation Week. This is seen in the allusion in v. 9 to the rainbow promise in Genesis 9:11, which is also referred to in Isaiah 54:9. God made no such promise at the end of Day 3 of Creation Week. Many parts of the new testament refer back to Noah and flood as being true history

18. 1 Peter 3:20 “who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.” Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.”

19. 2 Peter 2:5 “and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight people, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly;”

20. “When you read an English translation of the biblical account of the flood, you will undoubtedly notice many words and verses that seem to suggest that the waters covered all of planet earth. However, one should note that today we look at everything from a global perspective, whereas the Bible nearly always refers to local geography. You may not be able to determine this fact from our English translations, so we will look at the original Hebrew, which  is the word of God.” - Rich Deem Let’s look at a few examples in the Hebrew and see if it’s just in our “English” Bibles that say a worldwide flood

21. Genesis 7:19: “And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.” Genesis 1:8: “And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.” Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:14: “Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;”

22. Genesis 9:11-17: “And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.” What does “earth” refer to? Genesis 1:1-2: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep…” Genesis 1:10: “And God called the dry landEarth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.”

23. Genesis 6:13 “And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” It is true there are two words for “earth” but we have mountains of evidence that the words used in the flood account is referring to the entire world (earth) While we will not be discussing it much, the “Ice Age” would be caused by the flood

24. Why does it matter? Genesis chapter 1-8 is foundational for Christian doctrine If Genesis 1-8 is not literal history… - Why is there sin in the world? - Why is there suffering in the world? - Why do we die? - Why did Jesus die on the cross? - Why do we need a new heaven and a new earth? - Why do we have a seven day week? - Why do we wear clothes? - Why is Jesus called the last Adam? - Why is marriage between one man and one women Psalm 11:3 “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?”

25. The enemies strategy… Gain control of education! "The battle for humankind's future must be waged and won in the public school classroom by teachers who correctly perceive their role as proselytizers of a new faith... (that will replace) the rotting corpse of Christianity.“ - John J. Dunphy, The Humanist, Jan. 1983 p.26 "Education is the most powerful ally of Humanism, and every American public school is a school of Humanism. What can the theistic Sunday school, meeting for an hour once a week, and teaching only a fraction of the children, do to stem the tide of a five-day program of humanistic teaching?“ - Charles F. Potter, Humanism: A New Religion 1930 p.128

26. It’s not just secular schools… Statistics and polls of Christian college presidents and vice president Do you believe in the inspiration of Scripture? Presidents 98.1% Yes Vice president 98.7% Yes Do you believe in the inerrancy of the Scripture? Presidents 21.2% Yes Vice presidents 77.9% Yes Do you believe in the infallibility of Scriptures? Presidents 17.3% Yes Vice presidents 94.8% Yes There is a war going on in America, and we’re loosing

27. Memory verse Genesis 7:19 “And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered.”