In this lesson, Pastor Dave Capoccia considers whether the account of Genesis 6-9 can be fairly interpreted as describing a local flood. Why do many Christians accept or are open to accepting a local flood explanation? What details of the biblical text, beyond the descriptors of total destruction, preclude a local flood interpretation? And how does a local flood view actually call into question the very faithfulness of God?
The main text for this lesson is Genesis 6:1-9:19.
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let’s open with a word of prayer heavenly father I pray that we would see more of your greatness today as we consider the flood but we also consider your mercy God help me to be able to explain this well and I pray that we would respond appropriately to it in Jesus name amen all right we continue in our study of the consequences of sin a study of Genesis 3-11 and lately we’ve been focusing on the flood the flood account in Genesis now last week we read the entire flood account from Genesis 6 to9 and we noted the level of detail regarding the timing of events during the flood as well as how those details reinforce that the flood account is to be read as true history we also saw how emphatic the text is about how every land and air creature died apart from those that were in the ark necessarily indicating that the flood was a global catastrophe but could Moses have been exaggerating could Moses have been exaggerating when he said all creatures on Earth died could he have only meant the creatures of a certain area after all the Hebrew word translated Earth in the flood passages it could also be translated as land that is a certain land not necessarily all land could the flood of Genesis 6 to9 have been a local flood moreover is it possible that all the land creatures and people that did exist in that day were only in a certain area say a valley therefore when a local flood came it did Destroy All Flesh because there was no flesh anywhere else let’s now confront these ideas head on as we ask was the flood really Global or not the answer to this question has implications for whether we can really trust the Bible how we are to understand the fossil record today and even whether God is a God who keeps his promises we’re going to approach this issue of a global versus a local flood from a few different angles here is our outline for today’s class we’re going to re-examine some descriptions of the flood in Genesis 7 to8 we will then test the rainbow promise given at the end of the flood account Genesis 9 and we’ll consider a few other flood Legends from around the world and see how that intersects with the question of is it a global or local flood but let’s start by going to Genesis 7 if you would take your Bibles turn to Genesis 7 on page six if you’re using the Pew Bibles we’ve already read the whole flood narrative together but I want to reread sections of it this time looking at certain texts that are relevant for our main question today of whether the flood was truly Global or not and we’re going to start with Genesis 7: 11-2 look at those verses with me Genesis 71- 12 in the 600th year of Noah’s life in the second month on the 17th 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 40 days and 40 nights dump down to verses 17 to 24 then the flood Came Upon the Earth for 40 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 15 cubits higher and the mountains were covered all flesh that moved on the earth perished birds and cattle and beasts and every swimming thing that swims upon the Earth and all man kind of all that was on the dry land and all and in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of Life died actually we’ll read down to verse 24 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 who were with him on in them in the ark the water prevailed upon the Earth 150 days now let’s read just the first two verses of chapter 8 but God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the cattle that were with him in the ark and God caused the wind to pass over the earth and the water subsided also The Fountains of the deep and the floodgates of the sky were closed and the rain from the sky was restrained all right so from just these texts that we’ve reread from the flood narrative let’s make some observations notice what words or ideas are repeated in these sections we constantly see the words all and every especially when referring to the death of all things on the earth this is very inclusive language we have the repetition of 40 days and 40 nights we have the repetition of Fountains of the great deep and floodgates of the sky and the mentioning of rain we also have prevailed and increased mentioned repeatedly speaking of water now notice precisely from where the flood waters came it is from the floodgates of the sky and The Fountains of the great deep notice how high the waters Rose the highest mountains were covered it says and the water prevailed over them 15 cubits higher there’s that Cubit again what’s a cubit remember the Cubit is an ancient length of measurement of about 18 to 20 inch the length of the elbow to the fingertips let’s actually do a little bit of math conversion here if we want to understand this statement the water prevailed 15 cubits higher what does that equal in feet well let’s assume we’re dealing with a cubit of about 20 in if the water prevailed 15 cubits higher than the mountain peaks and we’re dealing with a cubit that’s 20 in long how many feet is that I know I’m asking you to do some quick math but the answer is 25 ft and I’ll give you the math 15 cubits time 20 in per cubit 15 * 20 equal 300 in but we need to convert that into feet so 300 in divid 12 in per foot equals 25 ft so the water was 20 ft above even the highest mountains of the Earth or land that’s how high the waters Rose above the earth now with this data let’s consider a theoretical situation imagine a valley surrounded by high mountains with the ark sitting in the middle let’s say a flood happens only in that Valley the waters begin to rise and so does the Ark finally the water reaches to the tops of the highest mountains what would happen to the water if it Rose goes even slightly above the tops of those mountains okay so as soon as it covers the water what’s going to happen or as soon as it covers the mountains what’s going to happen to it if it’s just in a valley it’s going to spill over onto the other sides right it’s going to spill over to the other sides so is it possible for water to cover the hills of a valley by 20 ft but only be contained in the valley no unless we have something like this which is clearly absurd so let’s now interpret this information a little bit more besides the description of universal death what from this passage plainly indicates that the flood was global right including the mountains even by 25t higher if water covered the mountains by more than 20t it must have been a global flood otherwise we have that absurd situation we were talking about now is causing a global flood beyond the ability of God of course not he can do that and he did do that now the phrases that we noted in the passage from from where the water comes Fountains of the great deep floodgates of the sky these are partly metaphorical there are no literal gates in the sky so to what do these actually refer Fountains of the great deep floodgates of the sky right the floodgates of the sky is just a metaphorical term for referring to the water that comes from the sky even the clouds Even the Rain what about The Fountains of the deep Mike that’s true so Mike mentioned in the earlier accounts talking about how the Earth was watered it talked about a mist or some kind of water coming from the ground so this would definitely be tied with that but it does say Fountains of the great deep what’s the great deep and usually that’s a term for the oceans so we have some sort of underwater source of water that God unleashes into the Earth for the flood we have rain from the sky but also Springs of water from within the Earth and apparently under the ocean these would be The Fountains of the great deep now because these ocean sping Springs were probably within the crust of the Earth the gushing water that God brought forth likely was very hot and that would have caused rainclouds to form so that would only reinforc water coming from both directions now based on the verses we’ve read and their context could the author of Genesis have been intending to communicate that the flood was local and not Global no it cannot be if you’re going to say it was a local flood you’re going against what the author is indicating because he is giving multiple ways of showing you that it is a global flood now as I mentioned some people have asserted that the flood was local but had Universal effects they assert that all those who were affected by the flood lived in the same place as Noah therefore when a local flood came all creatures on Earth were affected because they were all still living in that local area this assertion is kind of nice because it allows a person to seemingly confess the global effects of the flood and seemed to affirm scripture while also keeping intact the presupposition that the fossil layer of the earth which today’s scientists tell us have been built up over millions and millions of years they remained undisturbed by the flood that’s the problem with the global flood right it’s going to mess up the fossil record so let’s just say it was a local flood with global effects the fossil record remains undisturbed but why should we reject the assertion that the flood was local but had Global effects yeah again right so again just paying attention to the descriptions of the Genesis passage the inclusive language and the idea that it can cover the mountains and still be 25 ft higher it just doesn’t fit a local flood with global effects just doesn’t fit with the descriptions of the passage but not just that it’s silly to think that no animals or people lived outside Noah’s area I mean how many years after creation are we when the flood takes place according to the genealogies of Genesis more than 1600 years considering the extremely long lifespans of people which are recorded in the Bible and animals reproductive capacity you’re telling me that no people and no animals lived outside the area of Noah by now it should be clear that Moses communicated in his book that the flood really happened this is a historical event and it was a global event it was a global flood but there’s more because God’s covenant involving the rainbow given in Genesis 9 it proves again that the flood must have been Global and let’s see this ourselves look over at Genesis 9: 8-17 Genesis 98-117 so weall the context here the flood has lasted for little more than a year Noah his family and his animals the animals they’ve come out of the Ark they’ve just come out of the Ark and Noah has finished offering sacrifices to God God is pleased and then he makes a number of promises including this one starting in verse 8 so Genesis 9: 8-1 17 then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him saying now behold I myself do establish my Covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that is with you the birds the cattle and every beast of the Earth with you of all that comes out of the Ark even every beast of the earth I establish my Covenant with you and All Flesh shall never again be cut off by the water of the flood neither shall there again be a flood to destroy the Earth God said this is the sign of the Covenant which I am making between me and you and every living creature that is with you for all successive Generations I set my bow in the cloud and it shall be a sign of a covenant between me and the Earth it shall come about when I bring a cloud over the Earth that the bow will be seen in the cloud and I will remember my Covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of All Flesh and never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh when the bow is in the cloud then I will look upon it to remember the Everlasting Covenant between God and every living creature of All Flesh that is on the earth and God said to Noah this is the sign of the Covenant which I have established between me and All Flesh that is on the Earth all right let’s make some observations on this section this is God speaking to Noah and his sons oh clicker oh there it is but with whom is this Covenant Generations all generations that would be all generations of people but only them all successive Generations okay all all successive generations of people but it’s not just them with all the animal that live on the earth in fact God even says I make this Covenant with the Earth the Covenant is made with man and all living creatures we often refer to this Covenant as the noic Covenant but truly this Covenant Embraces more than Noah more than Noah’s family more than know his descendants it’s with all creatures that dwell upon the Earth even with the Earth itself notice who establishes the Covenant God does notice what is Promised in the Covenant God says he will never again destroy the Earth or all its inhabit an with water God even says in Genesis 8:21 if we just skip back to the previous chapter Genesis 821 the Lord that is Yahweh smelled the soothing Aroma and Yahweh said to himself I will never again curse the ground on account of man for the intent of man’s heart is evil from his Youth and I will never again destroy every living thing as I have done notice what are the terms that God says that are going to keep the Covenant in place there are none aside from God’s Own promise as we just read in this verse go Genesis 8:21 God even acknowledges man’s continual wickedness it’s not like man has been reformed Changed by the flood therefore it’s not as if man’s righteousness is going to keep this Covenant in place no God is just doing it all by himself despite what man is still in his heart God also calls this Covenant an eternal Covenant that is there is no seeing the end of it and then he gives a sign of the Covenant the rainbow now it’s not actually called a rainbow in the original text just called a bow what is a bow okay we think of the shape but the shape actually comes from a device that we know as a b what is that device we’re thinking about a bow and arrow right usually actually I think in our language we don’t usually refer to a bow as the shape we usually refer to a bow as a weapon we also refer to a bow as a ribbon and that’s totally a different thing in Hebrew the word for bow indicates the ranged Weapon It’s not a word for shape it’s a it’s a a weapon though it does have a distinctive shape and it’s true the shape and curvature of a rainbow it does resemble that ancient weapon with with with which the Israelites would have been quite familiar with notice the purpose for which God sets this bow in the clouds it is for God to see it and to remember his Covenant the implication though also is that man will see it and know that the Covenant is still in place how long ago from today was this Covenant given according to the information from the genealogy in Genesis 11 if the flood occurred around 2350 BC and it’s 2024 a now just add those two together minus one because there is no year zero and you get about years are rainbows still evident in the sky today yes they are and they’re very beautiful let me ask you some questions based on those observations what is the significance of God choosing a bow as the sign of his Covenant hey Mark isn’t there a the Psalms God his anding his judgment so I think I haven’t really studied that specifically but it seems to have that implication yeah Mark’s noting that in the Psalms God’s judgment is sometimes described metaphorically as his unleashing his bow I think we’re used to thinking about this bow in the clouds the sign of the Covenant as merely just being a reference to shape God saying you’re going to see the shape in the clouds and you’ll know my Covenant is in place and that’s certainly true but I would say that it’s more than that because God didn’t have to use the term specifically referring to a weapon and saying that God set his bow in the cloud it’s like God is saying I’m hanging up a weapon of judgment I’m hanging up this devastating weapon of judgment I’m laying aside the bow of the flood and I promise never to take it up again I’m putting my bow in the clouds so that everybody can see it including myself thus seeing the rainbow should both sober us and assure us we Glimpse in a sense the weapon that once destroyed the Earth but we also Glimpse God’s promise never to use that weapon again indeed has there ever been another flood that covered the entire Globe since God made his Covenant no so which attribute of God does the Covenant sign emphasize yes his Mercy what else yeah his truthfulness his trustworthiness his faithfulness God keeps his promises he says I’m not going to use this weetman again and I haven’t I won’t but have there been local floods since God made this Covenant even local floods that were quite devastating destroying vast areas of land killing thousands of man and animals they have occurred since the since this Covenant was instituted since this sign was given we’ve had many local floods they still occur today so how does believing in a local flood in Genesis cause God to be an Unfaithful Covenant breaker do you see the flow of reasoning if the flood was indeed local and God promis never again to flood the world as he had done and God has clearly violated that promise thousands of times the rainbow instead of being a sign of God’s mercy and faithfulness becomes the ultimate sign of hypocrisy because God says I’m never going to unleash this weapon again oh just kidding I’m I’m unleashing it all the time you see there are many many problems with trying to make The Genesis Flood anything other than a global global cataclysm as we’ve already seen the language of the flood account is emphatic of universal death and destruction the description of the Rising water makes a local flood impossible the rainbow Covenant would make a promise about no more deadly local floods to be a lie but there’s still more consider if the flood were a local event then the ark is not necessary at all what could Noah and the rest of the people for that matter do to escape the flood they could have just moved they could have migrated out of the valley and the Ark according to the text was apparently important for repopulating the Earth afterwards but if the flood was local how could the Earth have be been repopulated instead the land be repopulated instead just bring another man and animals who weren’t in that area the whole flood judgment and Ark salvation seems needlessly SL Cy if only a local flood is in view as I say there are huge problems in taking Genesis 6:9 as anything other than a global flood it makes nonsense of the text in spite of all this however many Christian teachers do assert a local flood or they are open to its possibility how can this be how can this be when the text is so clear that the flood was Global what would you say what right ultimately it comes down to they don’t believe the word but why not Dwayne Dwayne they don’t believe in right so Dwayne is given a good explanation the reason for taking a local flood is tied to what you think about creation and for many even Christians what they think about creation and the creation account is heavily influenced by the ideas and the Declarations of those who are considered wise in the world today even scientists it is because Christians Christian teachers wish to or feel compelled to accommodate secular thinking wisdom that they posit a local flood against the clear meaning of the text as you know the prevailing wisdom of our day is naturalist uniformitarian and evolutionary naturalism is the belief that only natural process not natural processes not Supernatural or spiritual forces must expl exp all that occurs in the world this is obviously not a provable assumption it is just assumed we’re going to explain everything only with natural explanations uniformitarianism is the belief that all natural processes that we observe today can and must explain what occurred in the past including the appearance of the fossil record the present is the key to the Past evolutionary theory not only sees that the world went from molecules to man protoplasm to people but also that many if not all of the world’s processes move according to or all the world’s development no let me say this many if not all processes in the world proceed according to slow gradual development not just biologically but even socially intellectually religion according to evolutionary thought must be explained from the same mind mindset people started out primitive worshiping spirits but then as they developed they worshiped many gods and then they developed and they worshiped one God and then when they developed they worshiped no Gods at all because now they’re truly enlightened which is what we are today they say now these are the ideas that are considered wise sophisticated today naturalism uniformitarianism evolutionary theory so when people of this age scientists do research in the fields of geology and paleontology and they bring in these values these anti-biblical worldview components anti-biblical in the sense that they oppose the scripture or they ignore the scripture when people bring that worldview and look at geological data fossil data they do not see evidence of a global flood they see layers of rock and fossils that could only have been laid down gradually over millions of years that have never been disrupted could never have been disrupted by any Global cataclysm and because this view is popular those who hold to it ridicule and put pressure on Christians to get on board with what has been in their minds clearly proven a scientific fact a lot of people will tell you that science has established that these things are true the world was formed a certain way the continents came about a certain way this is fact there was no flood only unreasonable and Antiquated people still believe in a global flood that’s the idea objective science objective science has proven otherwise so many Christians today do what Christians started to do in the early 1800s when Bible disbelieving geologists first started to claim that was no evidence of a global flood in the fossil record there was only evidence for gradual geological change the formation of the Earth’s Rock layers over millions and billions of years and Under Pressure not wanting to seem unsophisticated backwards lose their ability to witness to people the gospel Christians began placing man’s authoritative claims above the Bible’s authoritative claims thus for some like Thomas Thomas Chalmers who was the inventor of the gap Theory this meant searching for a new interpretation of the biblical text that does not come from the text itself I’ve got to I’ve got to re understand the scriptures because I got to fit man’s ideas in but for others like friederick schlocker who is the father of theological liberalism it meant a total denial of the historicity of the Bible it’s all just a bunch of madeup stories to help us feel our dependence on God who truly does exist but we pretty much can’t know anything about him because the Bible’s unreliable that’s basically the only way you can accommodate man’s wise thinking so-called wise thinking you either have to reinterpret the scriptures or you have to deny it but we must not go that way science has not disproven the Bible or disproven a global flood what has happened rather is that secular scientists have given an interpretation of the data fossil data Rock data that is according to their own worldview in a sense they’ve merely made sure to discover what they already assume to be true if you assume there’s no such thing as the supernatural if you assume that nothing like a world alter event like the flood has taken place well then you’re going to find what you’re looking for actually their interpretations when examine them more closely under proper presuppositions they do not make good sense of the scientific data now we’ve come to know by God’s grace that God exists and that the Bible is true in every part and that Jesus is Lord we have learned that the bible really is the foundation for what is true therefore we ought not to vacillate for a moment on anything which the Bible makes plain is a global flood taught plainly in the Bible Bible it is the flood was not a local flood in Mesopotamia or on the edge of the Black Sea the biblical text does not allow for that interpretation at all neither was the flood a tranquil flood I don’t know if you’ve heard of that before the Tranquil flood Theory the flood was not a tranquil flood that is one that did that was Global yet did not disturb at all the millions of years of fossil record in the earth which again is key to preserving modern scientific theory because that kind of flood is contrary to the laws of physics it would require God to miraculously keep the flood calm for its duration and then remove the waters miraculously without any major erosion taking place besides the language of the biblical text does not indicate a calm flood with deep sea Springs bursting open floodgates opening in the sky this was a tumultuous time on Earth this was no tranquil flood not to mention a tranquil flood could perhaps be survived but if it’s a cataclysm with massive waves and tectonic forces no one’s surviving that even if you have a boat if it’s not the ark nor was the flood account mythical a grand allegory or Legend from Moses it’s presented as detailed history it’s affirmed by the apostles it’s affirmed by God himself Jesus as we saw last week Jesus uses Noah’s flood as an analogy in the gospels for his own coming judgment this cannot be an allegory this cannot be a myth rather just as it was in the days of Noah it shall be in the days when Jesus comes to judge a flood really happened it really was Global and when you look at this from a Biblical when you look at the data when you look at what scientists have discovered what is observable in the world from a Biblical World viiew actually the Bible makes good sense of it better sense than the supposedly wise scientists deny the Bible try to make of it and I’m going to show you some reasons for that let’s consider some extra biblical data supporting a global flood assessed from a Biblical worldview that is we’re going to try and think about what how do we interpret what we see in the world when we rightly start from God’s word God’s reliable world word now since the flood did happen and was Global what would we expect to find in the world as a result if the flood really did happen really was Global everything died the world was reformed what would we expect to find sea creature fossils on yes we would expect to find first of all lots of dead things buried in the Earth but second of all we would expect to find maybe some of those dead things even aquatic dead things in odd places like at the tops of mountains actually interestingly in the ancient world people thought that when you found fossils of like shells and things on the tops of the mountains they thought it was The Gods playing tricks on man they said this doesn’t make any sense this must be a joke from the gods what else might we expect to find this really happened um say that again Glenda yeah bones fossils yes Mike what were you going to say right yeah so there should be some consistency in how the fossils and The Rock layers are actually formed because would all be through the the same event something else that we might expect to find is that accounts of the flood what the world calls flood Legends would exist in cultures scattered across the Earth after all if the flood left only four families to repopulate the Earth and shortly after the flood at Babel the descendants of those families were scattered then we expect some memory of the flood to be told and preserved through all the peoples of the earth Noah Shem ham and japheth they surely told their descendants about the flood we would not be surprised at all to see stories similar to the Bible’s flood account and many cultures and places and I actually want to show you some of these because it’s quite remarkable we do a little activity involving flood Legends in just a moment but specul speculate with me just for a minute beforehand we’ve all played the game telephone or know about it we wouldn’t expect flood Legends to line up completely with the Bible there are some things mentioned in the Genesis account that we might expect to be changed in various flood Legends details like the number of days the size of the boat the size of the family that got onto the boat the reason for the flood the being who sent the flood maybe they’ll call it a different deity or deities i’ expect Noah’s name to be changed the extent of the flood that could be changed nevertheless there are certain aspects of the flood that we would expect very likely to stay the same in local flood Legends I’m sorry Global flood Legends such as one Central male figure who’s different from the other on the earth a very destructive flood a boat that saves That central figure from the flood and animals with that person on the boat we would expect to see those things so what do we actually see let me show you three actual flood Legends these come from Hawaii ancient Babylon and ancient Assyria now I don’t have time to present to you translations of the ancient text from which these come but I’m going to give you a paraphrase give you a summary read to you some of the main details and display them for you on the screen now the writing might get a little bit small I’m sorry if you in the back can’t see it but just listen to me as I describe it I want you to read these three these details of three flood Legends with me and then we’ll ask some follow-up questions so from Hawaii we have this story that after the death of the first man the Earth became Wicked nuu was the only good man left nuu built a canoe with a house on it and and he filled it with animals the Earth was flooded and only nuu and his family survived Nu’s canoe landed on Mount AIA nuu offered a sacrifice to the Moon thinking it had saved him but Kan the Creator God descended on a rainbow to correct Nu’s mistake moving over to Babylon after the death of os zissu zisu thros reigned and there was a great flood Z thros received a vision from Kronos where he was told the flood would come on the 15th day of Doos zus thros was to build a boat and bring his friends and family aboard along with provisions and birds and four-legged animals the boat was 3,000 ft long and 1200 ft wide Z suos sent out birds as the flood receded until they returned with Muddy feet and then did not return zos offered sacrifice IES After the flood and was eventually taken to dwell with the gods one more this from Samaria this is actually from the Epic of Gilgamesh udap was commanded to build a boat of reads by the by the god a the boat was to have six decks and be a cube measuring 200t on all sides workers were hired to build the boat and they covered it with waterproofer the boat was loaded with living things and utaps friends and relatives the god shamash sealed the door and the flood began the land was shattered like a pot and all the people turned to Clay the flood lasted 6 days and the gods were sorry for sending the flood the boat landed on Mount nush and Ravens doves and swallows were released the animals were let off the boat and utnapishtim offered sacrifices to the gods now just based on those three Legends and the details I presented to you from them let’s make some comparisons what ideas are common to these three flood Legends there was a flood a very destructive flood what else a singular male figure who was uh Central to what happened with the flood and and people being preserved Tina presed yeah people and animals being preserved what else okay so there are different gods mentioned than say the god of the Bible uh one does mention a Creator God but you have Moon and other gods who seem to be involved what else first okay you do have mentioned the first man dying though that wasn’t mentioned in all three accounts interesting that the Hawaiian account did mention that let’s not miss one of the biggest things there’s a boat the boat is the uh the thing that that saves the central figure and the animals in each account um Isaiah are you going to say something sacrifice sacrifices made at the end yeah that was common to the accounts what else I think we’ve hit the main ones a God or God sends the flood judgment on the earth in these accounts man a man and his family are saved the man builds a boat the man takes animals onto The Boat Boat eventually lands on a mountain and the man offers sacrifices after passing through the flood what elements are different or missing compared to the biblical account L of time okay the the timing of the flood that’s not that’s not consistent with what the Bible says we already mentioned there are different gods mentioned as being involved with the flood what else okay one of the accounts did mention that a god a god shut the ark but not not all the accounts mention that what else okay so I think Mark also mentioned that but the the the number of days of the flood the timing of the flood events that’s different the reason for the flood is definitely different the though the Hawaiian account does mentioned that man had become Wicked and not all the accounts say that I think it’s the the Epic of Gilgamesh account that the reason for the flood was that the man was actually making too much noise and the gods were getting kind of irritated so they sent the flood that’s definitely different in these flood mentions or these these flood Legends I’ll mention some other ones so we have the we don’t have the one true creator god mentioned we don’t have the proper dimensions of the Ark mentioned the details of the flood timing are different God’s rainbow promise is not present now one or I think maybe two one mentioned that a rainbow was involved but there’s no rainbow promise and then the reason for the flood the wickedness of men and the violence on the earth that’s not explicit in these accounts now here’s an important question does it make more sense to say that these accounts were developed based on the Bible or that the Bible’s account borrows from these other flood Legends this is an important question because the way you answer it depends on what you believe about the Bible certainly we know that the Bible is the word of God and therefore it must give the original and true account but do you notice along with that in addition to that do you notice any details in these other flood legends that detract from their sense of authenticity you read that and you say that doesn’t make sense I don’t think that really happened canoe yeah the canoe right this canoe with a house on it that doesn’t seem like it’s going to do very well in a flood or we think about the description of the Ark in the Epic of gilgames a cube that is not going to do well if the flood is at all tumultuous that cube is going to tip over and then everything else inside is going to get hurt yeah we have some descriptions like these in these other flood Legends which to trct from their a authenticity now when it comes to how the ark actually is constructed and and how it would be quite worthy for enduring the flood we’re going to talk about that in next Sunday next week’s Sunday school class but these differences in detail in these other accounts they’re not too surprising because like we said telephone as centuries go by maybe the original descendants of shmh and jith they had the accurate account of the flood in their minds well the record gets passed down details get lost exaggerated simplified new elements are introduced like different gods or multiple gods they become added so because the Bible is actually original and authentic we are not surprised that there are differences even ones that don’t make sense in these other flood Legends because they are derivative they are derivative of the true account on what actually happened but this again comes from our worldview one’s worldview greatly affects with what one does with the data of the world in connection with the flood even these flood Legends and there are many more by the way Beyond these three these are not the only three flood Legends in the world there are more actually I think you can find out more answers in genesis.com but a secularist someone who doesn’t believe the Bible who ignores or actually opposes the Bible he looks at these flood Legends and he says Ah see this is more evidence of my worldview the Bible clearly borrowed from the pagans and is not Divine that’s why why it has so many commonalities or they might conclude differently by saying apparently primitive societies all felt the need to believe in the Divine who would save them or who did save them from a cataclysm event cataclysmic event like a flood but that is to be expected as part of the evolutionary process of religion it just so happens that something about the way we are as people we all feel the need to believe in a flood account and that’s why you see it across these District cultures this didn’t actually happen this is just evidence of man’s uh evolutionary progress in religion now this secular view this anti-biblical view while downplaying and twisting the significance of the data it does not really answer well why the flood Legends are so widespread culturally and geographically and why the Bible’s account is the most reasonable okay yes there are some ridiculous things in these other accounts but why does the Bible’s account actually make makes sense again someone with a Biblical worldview we look at the same data what the Bible says what we see in the world what we see in these flood Legends and we say oh but actually this makes very good sense because there was a flood and because all people are descendants of the survivors of that flood and because the record of the flood is disseminated all over the world that’s why we see this the Bible’s version is so reasonable because the Bible is supernaturally inspired it’s accurate it’s authoritative nevertheless there are true memories of this event because it actually happened and because the Bible is trustworthy in summary a secularist he would want to assert that the flood Legends detract from the believability of the Bible but the opposite is actually true when viewed from a Biblical worldview the presence of worldwide flood Legends and the competency of the biblical account they only serve to affirm that God did in fact judge the world with a global flood in the ancient days of the Earth let me ask you a few application questions actually more than a few I think I got five or six let me ask you some application questions based on what we’ve seen thus far as you interact with people what is the most likely objection to the flood of account in Genesis you say oh look what the Bible says about what happened in the past what’s the most likely reaction or objection from people to whom you present that well I think they look at these other like the Epic of Giles I hear that a lot well they’re all equally ridiculous they’re all equally obviously fiction yeah and I think you just addressed that by you Ed the word confidence to describe it’s just it’s just so different when you read the biblical account with its precision and it’s the type of language you know yeah yeah so Mark you’re saying that probably people are going to say like these other flood Legends this is this is ridiculous you can’t actually believe that even though compared to the other flood Legends the Bible actually makes good sense it it shows his competency Mike what were you going to say okay so we did talk about that objection before too but someone might say well this is simply cruel this this cannot be good this cannot be uh true that God would actually do something like this if there really is a God because it’s so unkind uh Steve you’re gonna say something re right that’s yeah so Steve mentioning that someone might fixate on the fact that it doesn’t seem reasonable that the world would be covered the entire world will be covered with water and where would that water come from and the mountains are High um this must be an exaggeration if true it must be an exaggeration I think certainly there are people who just say it’s a myth or that it’s it’s too CR too cruel to be believed but for many they’ll simply say well yeah I I can get behind that maybe something like this happened but not truly a global flood this is an exaggeration this is a local flood in Mesopotamia Noah was just a guy lived in the ancient world and he had this special flood experience but this wasn’t a global event this wasn’t a judgment of God on all the Earth it would seem like an exaggeration but again going back to what Mark said and what we just covered oh I’m sorry um what’s ironic though and I and and Steve I think you were getting at this is that the idea that the flood is an exaggeration or couldn’t really happen is a little bit ironic when you think about it at least with today’s thinking because our world today is 70% covered by water and many deny that there was ever a global flood well Mars is 0% covered by water but what’s the thinking of today about Mars it used to be a water Planet it used to have water everywhere there’s no water right now and yet we have so much water and people say no no no we we could never have had a global flood but many many would think that it’s a myth or even many more would think that it’s an exaggeration but we have the reliable Biblical word that even demonstrates itself to be competent and presents itself as authentic history with that though let me ask you this question as we talk with unbelievers should we use various flood legends from around the world to prove that the biblical flood really happened the key word is prove though the flood Legends are consistent with the flood actually happening and support the Bible’s account they cannot prove that the Bible is accurate the text of the Bible itself is always the best way to show someone the truth show someone reality this word is evidence of itself it testifies of itself so what we should say our general stance should be the Bible is true in its account of the global flood you can even see that in the way that it’s written based on that we would expect to see flood Legends around the world not fully accurate but we would expect to see flood Legends around the world we do which just points it affirms the absolute truthfulness of the Bible however if these Legends did not exist that might be a little bit surprising but the Bible would still be completely trustworthy we don’t need the flood Legends to prove the Bible but they do offer extra support because the Bible is true next question I think you have already gotten the idea for the answer to this what elements of the text of Genesis 6:9 could you use to point someone to the global nature of the flood inclusive language all every the repetitive proclamations of universal death the description of the extent the rising Waters the rainbow Covenant promise number four when talking with a fellow Christian who believes or has been taught that the flood was only a local event how would you approach correcting their understanding well we should always use a prayerful loving attitude that truly seeks to do benefit to others if we’re going to correct them ultimately what we would want to do is ask our brother or sister to examine the text carefully some may have accepted the interpretation of a local flood or a mythical flood without actually paying attention to what the page says actually looking carefully at the passage themselves we want to help them do that have you considered this look at this we should address oh we should also address the questions of what has ultimate Authority and what anti-biblical assumptions underg modern scientific assertions when I’ve had conversations with people about whether the Bible’s account of creation or whether the Bible’s account of the flood or history and literal a lot of people are stuck behind well science has proven that these can’t be true but that’s an opportunity to say but do you understand where those scientific interpretations came from they are interpretations of data rather than simply presentations of the data itself let’s address what assumptions are in that interpretation and then you’ll see actually uh there’s a way of interpreting the data that is intellectually sound reasonable but affirms the truthfulness and authority of the scripture so help people actually look at the text and help them understand the assumptions that go in the interpretation of the data that we see in the world today number five as we talk partly talked about last week the rainbow has been hijacked by many different groups as a symbol for their causes it’s used as a multicultural symbol a symbol of Hope a symbol of obtaining wealth without effort and of course a symbol for those who engage in sexually perverse Lifestyles but how could you use the rainbow as a way to engage someone in a gospel centered conversation we did talk about this it can be as simple as asking about the rainbow whenever you see one hey I see you wearing a rainbow pin or patch why do you wear it and you can follow it up with well do you know what God says in the Bible about the rainbow and if that person seems willing to listen it could then be a good opportunity to talk about God’s kindness God’s faithfulness and God’s holiness exemplified in the flood account and how that even connects with the Gospel of Jesus and my last question that goes along those same lines how can we connect the flood to the gospel basically do the same thing as the New Testament writers the flood shows the Holiness of God and judging the wickedness of men it shows the kindness of God in preserving Noah and in God’s promise to never flood the Earth again and it shows that God has promised I’m sorry not it shows but the Bible shows that God has promised he will one day judge the Earth again like he did in the days of Noah and so that’s why we need Jesus explain that Jesus is the only savior from the coming judgment which is going to be just like the Judgment of the flood the flood very easily points to the gospel all right that’s my material for today couple minutes questions about what you heard and if no questions I can do comments too yeah Mark just think about fossils um I know there’s various ways fossils are formed but my understanding is that for the majority of them it requires a catastrophic event right like we just normal life just layers of Life fossils just don’t my understanding um so are you know are there ways scientists try to get around that I mean you do need some sort of catastrophic events to explain what we see is right yeah I think you are right Mark not a scientist but from what I’ve read from good resources especially in answers and Genesis do.com you are quite right our understanding is fossils need certain conditions to be formed they have to be covered quickly as in in a cataclysmic event rather than oh something just died on the surface and then sand blew over it or something like that that doesn’t usually happen because if something dies like that it gets picked off by Caron or broken down by bacteria it has to be buried it has to be rapidly buried and most things don’t have that happen to them but it would have happened like that in the flood which explains all the fossils that we have that’s connected with a question that sometimes people ask they say why is it we see so few human bones in the fossil record in fact I I not aware of human bones at all in what are considered the rock layers the ancient Rock layers human bones don’t exist there but you see lots of animal bones why is that why would that be if I remember correctly one of the ways that answered in Genesis responded to that is because when when the flood came about humans were trying to save themselves from the flood they didn’t just sit around and wait for the you know the flood to cover them they are doing their best to escape and survive the flood so they remain on the surface they’re not um they’re not necessarily as they wouldn’t be susceptible to being covered like the animals would and so you don’t see human fossils but you do see the animal fossils anyways Tina pre and thetion is theyve from there has no evidence F bones you see the shells orish and so they use that to help you streng yeah so Tina talking about well the fact that there aren’t they don’t appear to be human fossils does that strengthen the argument that there’s some kind of ma Evolution that took place in the past a fish evolved into another creature you don’t see anything like a man or a transition creature in the fossil record you only see the animal so maybe that’s evidence that you have a much longer time of creatures evolving rather than anything evolving quickly into a man I suppose so but again it’s it’s how you interpret the data based on your own worldview there’s a major problem with assuming macro evolution because it’s never been observed which is kind of ironic if scientists are supposed to be basing everything on their understanding of the past based on what they observe in the present we’ve never observed macro Evolution we’ve only observed micro Evolution which is basically sometimes called adaptation or natural selection where genetic information is lost because certain things die out in a certain certain place and only what is succeeding in that environment passes on its genetic information that is observable and creationists will affirm that but the assumption is oh because that’s observable macro Evolution must have also taken place that’s a that does not follow yet it’s key for the evolutionary argument so you got major problems with the evolutionary worldview um but if you just kind of smooth over those problems or uh assume solutions that don’t have evidence then you can look at the fossil record and say oh the fact that we see no man actually supports my theory but again biblical worldview makes much better sense of it and there are there are major problems with assuming something that goes against the scriptures even with the data that is available in the world other good uh these are good questions and I’ll point you again to the resources of Answers in Genesis because they focus on Genesis they focus on creation the flood and they they deal with a lot of the specific questions of well how about this and how could this be and what do you do with this fossil and um some of the questions that you might have so I’d recommend the website we have a number of their resources also in the booknook and and the lending library I think also so definitely check those out but that’s it for this week if you have other questions um that you don’t find an answer readily in any of those other resources you can ask me about it just send me an email but for next week as I said earlier we’re going to consider the ark the construction and shape of the Ark was such a boat able to handle the tumultuous Waters of the flood and how did Noah fit all those animals on there I think I remember talking with somebody who I was trying to give the gospel to and then he brought up that objection out of nowhere but how did Noah get all those animals on the ark that became like a little defense I can’t believe the Bible because how to knowah get all those animals in the ark well there’s an answer to that a very reasonable answer and we’ll talk about that next time let me close this in prayer Lord thank you for your word thank you for your mercy thank you Lord for your Holiness even even as it is demonstrated in in terrifying judgment Lord we thank you that you have saved us from the Judgment but so many of our fellow humans Lord the judgment is ready to fall on them and they’re not ready so God I pray that you’d give us a love and a boldness and a confidence to speak to them your truth so that they might be rescued from a different kind of flood that is to come in Jesus name amen