Genesis Post 19 - The Flood Begins and Some Science Thrown In (Chapter 7)

Chapter 7. We are now at the flood. Most people know about Noah and the flood.

All cultures of the world have some sort of story about a worldwide flood, because the entire world came from these eight people.  In fact, Chinese writing, which are actually pictures, includes some fascinating hints towards Genesis.  The word for garden includes the symbols for dust, breath, enclosures, and two people.  The word for boat includes the symbols for vessel, eight, and mouth.   And the word for flood includes the symbols for water, together, earth, and eight.

The flood did not just happen because of sin. If that was the case, you'd better go get a life preserver right now.  Yes, sin was horrendous before the flood.  But the main reason for the flood,, as I posted previously, was because the human line had been corrupted by the nephilim who were trying to destroy God's plan with the seed of the woman.

The account of Noah began back in chapter 5 when we were told that he was 500 years old.  Chapter seven tells us that Noah was six hundred years old when he entered the ark.  One hundred years passed during which the grace of God was extended to the world.

In verse 1, God said bo to Noah and his family, which in Hebrew means come in. Come in and be saved. This invitation by God is still open to all today.

Then the LORD told Noah to bring seven of every clean animal, in addition to the two of all the others.  Why?

I believe for two reasons.  The first purpose was so they could sacrifice to the LORD.  And the second purpose was that humans would become meat eaters after the flood.  It amazes me that Noah knew which animals were clean and unclean, even before the instructions God gave at Sinai.

So they all went into the ark, the LORD supernaturally closed the door, and they sat there for seven days before the rains began.

I am not sure why seven days passed before judgment began.  Could it be the LORD figuratively taking a deep breath before His wrath is poured out?  We see a similar concept in Revelation 8:1, when the seventh seal was opened and there was silence in heaven for about a half an hour.  After the silence, we see the judgment of God poured out on the earth.

Genesis 7:11 says,
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was on the earth forty days and forty nights.

What does it mean that the fountains of the great deep were broken up?  I believe it is possible that the world had been much smaller before the flood - with only one big land mass (called the pangea) - and that the continents were then broken up and spread out.  Indeeed, looking at a world map, it is easy to see how they would have fit together like a puzzle.

Our world today is made up of many tectonic plates that rub together, causing earthquakes and volcanoes in those places.  Are those plates evidence of God's breaking up of the deep?

Many people say that this is the first time that rain fell on earth.  Between the rain and the breaking up of the fountains of the deep, the flood water covered the earth so that it was more than 20 feet deep over the highest mountain peak

I guess it's time for some science.

There is a lot of proof for a worldwide flood. Scientists have found fossils on mountaintops. Fossils of fish. Seashells on top of mountains... hmm.  How did they get there?

Animals do not become fossils unless they die suddenly and are covered with a sudden change of pressure.  Fossils were immediately buried or frozen under pressure. Otherwise, animals just decompose when left in the open air. We’ve all seen roadkill at the side of the road. It just wastes away to nothing.  Vultures and other carrion show up and eat it.  It does not fossilize, it just goes away.

The fossil record is best understood as a marine cataclysmic event.

95% of all fossils discovered are shellfish. Shells protected them so they didn't decompose right away. Of the remaining 5%, 95% of those are plants, and of the small percentage left, most were insects and fish.

Very few were mammals.

However, some of the best fossils discovered are the woolly mammoth in the north, in the permafrost of the Arctic circle. They have found whole ones, frozen and intact.  And incredibly, they still had food in their mouth. They were frozen solid instantly.

It is estimated that it would be 175° below zero to freeze these guys the way they were frozen. But amazingly, they had subtropical food in their mouths!

This cutie was found in Siberia.

There was tropical weather on the planet before the flood. It was probably all the same elevation, too. No valleys, no mountains. Flat, hot, and steamy, with mists coming out of the ground to water everything.  I believe the mountains were carved during the great land upheaval.

I believe the Grand Canyon is only a few thousand years old, in spite of what the National Park Service will tell you. Petrified wood found at the bottom of the canyon is the same age as wood found toward the top.  The Grand Canyon was formed quickly.  When Mount Saint Helens exploded in 1980, enormous canyons and gorges formed in just a few hours' time.

And what about the dinosaurs?  Again, any dinosaur fossils would have been trapped in a cataclysmic event and formed quickly.  Dinosaur eggs have been found with tissue in them!  That tissue has been determined to be about 5000 years old.

Many dinosaur bones were huge.  Maybe dinosaurs grew so big because they lived so long before the flood, in the same way that man lived hundreds of years

After the flood, the sauna ended. The worldwide tropics ended. Why did the dinosaurs die out? Maybe they weren’t prepared for the coming climate. Maybe they still exist today. Lizards? Snakes? Rabbits? Also, the mist would have protected the earth, so things lived longer. Removal of that mist would have let in more radiation, therefore shortening life on earth.

The process of aging sped up after the flood.

Ok, end of science.  Back to the flood account.

The rain lasted 40 days and 40 nights, a very biblical period of time. This brings to mind the time of the Israelites in the wilderness, and the time of Yeshua in the wilderness.  40 is a time of testing, probation, and of preparation for something new.  During those 40 days, all life on earth died out.

And then the water stayed around for another 150 days.

So seven days, 40 days, and then 150 days... talk about getting cabin fever!  I can only imagine how anxious Noah and his family were to exit that boat.  Stay tuned!  You can read the next post here.