davidbowerkingwood

The Flood, God’s Judgment on Sin!

It is vitally important to recognize the flood was a voluntary action by the creator of the universe and had, very likely, a combination of natural and supernatural components!

The Bible indicates the flood came around 1,656 years after the creation of Adam; the early chapters of Genesis provide a brief summary of life before the flood, primarily focused on man’s sinfulness and God’s plan for redemption.

The passage of 1,656 years is a really long time; looking back now that many years, takes us back to 367 A. D. and reveals a world where the Roman Empire had recently been split into two parts; the Western Empire and the Eastern Empire.

The Bible does not reveal most of the details surrounding the flood; we can see from the results on the ground, the flood was a one-time event of unparalleled destruction. I have previously written on the flood in a six-part series that starts with, “The World Before the Flood.”

It is possible the volcanic activity, still visible on the earth, began a short time before the rains began. God had created a paradise and I believe there had been no volcanic activity before the flood era.

The reference to the breaking up of the fountains of the great deep involved a drastic disruption and rearrangement of the tectonic plates covering the earth. I believe all the volcanic activity attributed to millions of years took place at this time.

The massive outpouring of ash could have been instrumental in the destruction of the water vapor canopy that surrounded the earth. The North and South poles were immediately frozen over to never thaw again to the present time.

The ash blocked the sun and produced an extended cold period for several hundred years. At the end of this period, the earth settled into the pattern we have today.

(The photo above shows the mammoth elephant found on the banks of the Beresovka River in Siberia. The elephant had been flash frozen so quickly the contents of its stomach remained undigested. The stomach contained undigested ferns and flowers of a type subsequently unknown to that part of Siberia.)

Cave Men and Dinosaurs

After the flood, the volcanic ash, suspended in the atmosphere, resulted in a much colder climate, especially in the Northern Hemisphere. Genesis 11 records the building of the Tower of Babel, the creation of multiple languages and the dispersion of the people by language group.

Both the North and South poles were covered by ice and the freezing weather in the Northern Hemisphere caused the glacial activity in that area.

During this period, starting around 100 to 200 years after the flood, mankind spread out, some used caves for shelter where such shelter could be found. Dinosaurs had been included on the Ark, and, it appears, many were able to survive in the post-flood world. Since the word dinosaur was not invented until 1842 by Sir Richard Owen, earlier references to dragons permits some speculation on what they may have been. Sightings of dragons were reported all over the world.

A Brief Summary

The earth had been created as a sanctuary for both mankind and animals; man had been given dominion over the earth and its inhabitants. Adam, the first man, disobeyed a direct command from God and died spiritually, on the spot, along with all his descendants including you and me.

Dominion then defaulted to Satan and mankind became tenant farmers, inhabiting a planet controlled by Satan. After 1,656 years, God decided to judge the rampant sin that saturated his creation and killed off all but eight people including, Noah, his family and the selected animals that found refuge on the ark.

What had been an environmental paradise, experienced the devastating destruction of the world as it had been created; a devastation that would never be repeated. Since the flood, the world has remained essentially the same to this day.

Hope for the Future

The Bible describes a touching picture of God’s creation; in Romans 8:19-22 where it is written:

“¹⁹ For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰ For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; ²¹ because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. ²² For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.”

I’m convinced, God’s creation will be delivered at the end of the Great Tribulation and restored to an “Edenic-like” condition at the beginning of the Millennial reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.

For more information on the pre-flood world, I encourage you to visit: “Answers in Genesis.” I would also like to express my appreciation for the book. “The Waters Above” by Joseph C. Dillow. (Out of print)