Was Noah's Flood Local or Worldwide?

All right, let's open up to Genesis chapter 6. Tonight we're going to be looking at the subject of the flood, the flood of Noah, as usually people call it.

In particular, though, we're going to look at this question, was Noah's flood a worldwide flood or was it just a localized flood that only affected a particular region in the

Middle East? Who's ever heard this question or is this even, maybe for some it's not even a thought.

Like I never even heard that someone thought it was a local flood. I suspect most

Bible -believing Christians would say, well, obviously it's a worldwide flood.

I mean, isn't that the point of taking two of each of every animal so you keep the species alive?

Like, isn't that the whole, the whole purpose? Well, yeah, if, if it was only a local flood, that just seems totally unnecessary.

Also it says that eight people were saved, eight people survived it.

Well, that really wouldn't be true if it was only a local flood. And then of course the Bible goes on to explain how all the different nations descended from Noah's sons.

So to me, this is sort of like last week with the young earth, old earth debate.

To me, this is a settled issue, but you know, you know how it is. There's a lot of churches, big name, evangelical pastors that are kind of buying into this.

Not only the evolution stuff, now there's evangelicals who are teaching and advocating for a localized flood.

You know, like the big mainline churches, United Methodists, Episcopalians, I realized those churches, a lot of them would just say

Genesis one through 11 is all allegory. Like none of it's real, none of it happened.

I realized churches would either deny the flood or maybe say it was local, but within Bible believing churches, you just don't expect this kind of a thing.

But it's been my experience that it's, it's kind of creeping in.

Just to mention a few names, who's heard of the gospel coalition, the

TGC or the gospel coalition. I mean, I know several local churches that are, you know, big on them.

They support them, attend their events. And this is kind of what got me thinking about this subject.

Like someone from the gospel coalition was advocating for a localized flood.

And I just want to ask the question tonight, is that biblical? And let's look at what the

Bible says. Genesis six, one through eight, it says, now it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful.

And they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the

Lord said, my spirit shall not strive with man forever for he is indeed flesh yet his days shall be 120 years.

And of course, before the flood, how long did people live long time, you know, seven, 800, 900 years.

Who is the oldest person in the Bible? 969 years.

And there's some evidence that the year he died, the flood came. So but after the flood, the life expectancy dropped to 120, look at verse four.

We continue. There were giants on the earth in those days and also afterwards.

So we're, we're, we're looking at what led to what, what caused the flood? Why did God bring the flood?

Well, this is why there were giants on the earth in those days. And also afterward, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them, those were the mighty men who are of old men of renown.

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that the, that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

So what I believe happened here is the sons of God. This is the godly line of Seth.

So there were godly people in the world, but they started to intermarry with the ungodly line of Cain.

So when the godly people started to merge with the ungodly, guess what? Yeah, there was only ungodly left at a certain point.

And the, the giants, that's where you get the idea of the Nephilim. So some people think they were literal giants.

Well, it can also refer to people that were fiercely violent or tyrants.

So I think that's what happened. The godly people intermarried with the ungodly and the world just became so evil, so corrupt

God. Well, let's look at what it says. Verse six, and the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth.

And he was grieved in his heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom

I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air.

For I am sorry that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the

Lord. Okay. So before we get into the flood account, we need to look at the reason why the flood happened.

So the reason why God sent the flood in the first place, mankind had become a very, very wicked.

Mankind was so evil. God says, I'm going to destroy him. Let's turn to second Peter chapter three, second

Peter three, and of course God is going to do this again. Once mankind crosses that line, wherever that line is in the future,

God is going to destroy the earth again. First time he used water. The second time he's going to use what fire, of course, that's what we were looking at in the book of revelation,

God judging the world by fire. So God is going to do this whenever mankind becomes, you know, too wicked and we don't know where that line is, but God knows.

And here in second Peter three, Peter connects, you know, the judgment of the flood with the day of the

Lord. So second Peter three, one through seven, he writes, beloved,

I now write to you this second epistle in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the

Lord and savior. You're knowing this first, that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lust.

Does this sound like the day and age we're living in right now? Yeah, it does. And what do they say?

They say, where, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation for this, they willfully forget that by the word of God, the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water by which the world that then existed perished.

Notice what he says, the world that then existed, perished, not a region, not a country says the world being flooded with water, but the heavens and earth, which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

So the reason why I chose this passage, uh, number one, you see the connection with the flood.

Okay. The flood and the day of the Lord. Uh, Peter talks about how people will deny the coming judgment.

They'll say, well, that type of thing just doesn't happen. Uh, it's always been like this.

The earth just, you know, it's always been like this. It'll always be like this. Life just continues on, uh, as is, but they are willfully ignorant.

You know, they know they've heard, but they choose to forget the fact that what God has already destroyed this earth once.

And yes, he will do it again by fire. So my point is if the flood was only a local flood, then

Peter's statements, number one, Peter's statements are false because the apostle clearly says in verse six that the ancient world perished being flooded with water.

So again, if it's a localized flood, that's not true. Uh, the second thing, since the flood is used as a picture, uh, it's like a foretaste or a type or shadow of the final judgment.

If the flood only affected a small region in the middle East, then logically you would say that the second coming of Christ might only affect a small region in the middle

East. And that's actually what a lot of these churches will say. So these churches that allegorize the

Bible and you know, they take the all male preterist position, they actually say that Jesus already came back in 70

AD and the only people who really noticed were those living in and around Jerusalem. So it's kind of funny how that's actually what some of them claim that the second advent or the second coming of Christ already happened.

And you know, you wouldn't have known unless you were in this particular region in the middle

East. So let's turn to Genesis chapter seven, but I want to ask you who, who has heard this debate before?

Like you're familiar that there's people who take both sides, local flood worldwide. You're, you're aware this debate exists.

Who has never heard of such a thing, a local flood. Okay. So you assumed that, you know, anyone who believes the

Bible believes in a worldwide flood, right? Yeah. Um, you would think, cause again,

I think the Bible's so clear. I really try, like,

I don't want to be hard on people who believe something different. Cause if somebody went to a church where this is what they were taught,

I mean, you should be reading the Bible for yourself and figuring this stuff out, but you know, people know what they've been taught.

So if somebody believes in a localized flood, if that's what they were taught, okay. But I really do try to understand the other side.

It's like the old earth position. I could not think of a single argument in the

Bible that taught that the flood was local. And I, to this moment, can't think of anything that would even hint at that.

Can anyone maybe give the other side? Cause I want to try to give the other side, but I just can't find any arguments.

The only arguments that exist are again, like last week, these arguments from science, like, um, there's, you know, scientific statements, um, like where did the water go?

Right. That, I mean, that would be one, one question people ask, but yeah, we're going to look at Genesis chapter seven, uh, some of the statements in the

Bible, it says the windows of heaven were opened and the fountains of the deep were broken up.

So one question, where did all the water come from? Uh, let's see, uh,

Genesis seven, 12. What does it say? How long did the rainstorm last? 40 days and 40 nights, but there wouldn't be enough water in the atmosphere to flood the earth.

Would there? Well, here's the thing. Who's ever heard of the canopy theory? I find this really interesting.

So basically there's this view that before the flood happened, uh, the earth was surrounded by, you know, this dome or it's like a, yeah, it's a canopy.

So the earth prior to the flood was sort of like a, a greenhouse, uh, heat was trapped in.

It was more or less a tropical climate, uh, worldwide and radiation from the sun couldn't get in.

And maybe that's one of the reasons why people live so long. Like I said, people before the flood lived seven, eight, 900 years, but once you know, things changed after the flood.

Now man, his life tops out at about 120. So the canopy theory says that the atmosphere or the firmament, it was like a great dome that surrounded the earth.

Uh, Genesis chapter one verses six and seven says that the firmament, when

God created, he separated the waters, you know, from the waters. So the firmament is in the sky and the

Bible says there were waters above the firmament. So apparently there was something like a canopy or a dome of this water, uh, in the atmosphere that made the earth sort of like a greenhouse.

But in the flood, God broke that up and all that water that existed came down to earth over the course of those 40 days.

Uh, so that would explain where all the water came from. But you know, one potential problem with the worldwide floods, again, just to be fair for the other side, it's like, well, where did all the water go?

So if somebody asked you that, okay, you believe that the earth was flooded with water that Mount Everest, you know, was underwater.

Where did all the water go underground? I guess it would have to go underground.

But we have oceans and lakes, yeah, see,

I'm not, I'm not sure that I have the answer. Um, I, I'm not all that concerned about some of these things, the, the flood to some degree, we have to recognize it was a miraculous event to some degree.

I mean, God was intervening in the affairs of men. And so, you know,

I, I don't lose any sleep over that, but again, I can find no verses that actually teach a localized flood.

So let's, let's read some more Bible verses that I think clearly state that the flood was worldwide.

And then we'll get into why this matters. But Marcus, you have something? Well, yeah. In the first days of creation,

God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters.

And God made the firmament and divided the waters, which are under the firmament, from the waters which are above the firmament.

And it was so. Yeah. So, and at the very beginning, it said the spirit of God was hovering over the, the water so.

And then God made dry land appears and then, then he flooded it so that it was all covered.

I mean, gee, this is, this is miraculous stuff. Right. It's not hard for me to understand.

Right. You know, you know what? Yes, go ahead. I was going to say also in Genesis 7, 11, it says that before the 40 days and nights, he says on that day, all the fountains of the great deep were broken up and the windows of heaven were opened.

Right. Yeah. I mean,

I think water came up from the ground as well and came down.

But basically when it comes to, when it comes to why someone believes in a localized flood,

I really think it's this simple. They take what the Bible says, they take what the world says that, no, that's impossible.

And they're just trying to find a happy medium. Okay. You know, you, you unbelievers say this is so ridiculous and impossible.

All right. I'll, I'll give you that. We're going to believe in a local flood. Will you accept that? I mean, to me it, it seems like a, an attempt to curry favor with, you know, skeptics, but I can't judge someone's heart as to why they believe it.

Larry, you had something. I was going to say, I believe don't have any support for it, but that's where the mountains came from.

When he broke up, the earth just pushed up and the water just came shooting out of the ground and that created the mountains and the valleys.

You know how South America and Africa, like it looks like they once might've fit together.

I mean that it may have been that originally there was one continent and that's what scientists will tell you.

I don't doubt that that happened and maybe it was during the flood that God broke everything up and over the course of this whole event, that that's when everything was separated.

But you know, that's, that's speculation. But the real question that we're looking at, what does the

Bible teach a localized flood or worldwide flood? Let's get the answer.

And then again, we'll talk about why it matters. Genesis seven, one through five. 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 and you shall take with you seven of each of every clean animal, a male and his female to each of animals that are unclean, a male and his female.

Also seven, each of birds of the air, male and female to keep the species alive on the face of the earth.

Now, why more of the unclean animals? Okay. Sacrifices.

Okay. But again, this, this statement of why you're bringing the animals, what does he say in verse three?

You're doing this to keep what the species alive. Again, if this is a local flood, none of this makes any sense because the animals are going to be living everywhere else on earth.

Verse four. And after seven more days, I will cause it to rain on the earth 40 days and 40 nights.

And I will destroy from the face of the earth, all living things. Is that clear that I have made and Noah did according to all that the

Lord commanded him. And Noah was 600 years old when the flood waters were on the earth.

Now, let me ask you this. How long did it take Noah to build the ark? A hundred and fifty years.

Does anyone else have a different answer? I said 120. 120. I was thinking it was 120, then

I double checked. I guess it doesn't actually tell us. I looked it up online. One website said four years.

I'm like, I'm pretty sure that's not right. But either way, let's say it was 120 years.

Noah had all the time in the world to just move. God was going to flood, you know, a particular area.

Even if he had four years, he had enough time to pack up and go somewhere else. So bottom line, a local flood just doesn't really make any sense.

Yeah, but look at that boat. I don't think he made that with hand tools. Yeah, I mean, that would take a long time.

So I could keep pointing to Bible verses, and I will, because the Bible, remember, the Bible is our authority when answering any question, you know, we can turn to science and turn elsewhere.

But when we get our beliefs about God and what he says, I mean, Sola Scriptura, the Bible is our authority.

So I want to get my answers from the Bible, not what somebody out there is saying.

But with that said, there are other reasons outside of the Bible as to why we think that the flood was worldwide.

What's one reason outside of Scripture that there's actually evidence that the flood happened?

Fossils. Okay. Fossils on top of, there's marine life, fossils of marine life on top of mountains.

The layers of the ground, like you go to the Grand Canyon and you see all these different layers all the way up as the sediment.

Now, they say the layers took billions of years, but it could be that there was a cataclysmic event that caused that and caused the fossils.

And that's what we believe happened. Also, nearly every ancient culture all over the world has some sort of flood story.

You might say a flood myth, but why are these all these cultures that are separated from each other?

Why are they all saying that a flood happened? Because it actually did happen. So there's more evidence though, in Scripture.

Look at Genesis 7, 17, it says, now the flood was on the earth 40 days.

The waters increased and lifted up the ark and it rose high above the earth. The waters prevailed and greatly increased on the earth and the ark moved about the surface of the waters and the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth.

And notice this, all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered.

I mean, this is a pretty strong statement. All the high hills under the whole heaven were covered.

I don't know what you do with a statement like that. The local flood people say, well, all the high hills, you know, in this region were covered.

Yeah, but you would think the water would kind of filter out and I mean, I just, again,

I'm trying to see the other side and it's, yeah, it's not there.

Verse 20, the waters prevailed 15 cubits upward and the mountains were covered and all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds and cattle and beast and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth and every man, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land died.

So he, God destroyed all living things, which were on the face of the ground, both man and cattle creeping thing and bird of the air.

They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive and the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

Another thing, if the flood was only local, this makes God a liar because in Genesis chapter nine,

God put something in the sky. It's a sign of the covenant, right? The rainbow. God sets the rainbow in the sky and that's

God's promise that he will never again flood the earth. Well, if it's only a local flood, let me ask you, have there been low local floods since?

Yeah, there has. So that makes God a liar because he has sent other floods.

All right. Genesis nine. Let's look at this account of what happens after the flood.

Genesis nine, 11 through 17. The Lord says, thus I establish my covenant with you.

Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood.

Never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, this is the sign of the covenant, which

I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations.

I set my rainbow in the cloud and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

And it shall be when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall 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 the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh and the rainbow shall be in the cloud.

And I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.

And just this language, you know, all flesh, all flesh, it just keeps repeating it. Just like with the evolution thing, you know, after their own kind, after their own kind, with the young earth, old earth argument, you know, they say evening and morning were the first day evening and morning of the second day.

So when God repeats something, he's doing it for a reason. So all flesh and verse 17, 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. There it is again,

Marcus. Well, not so much all flesh, but where it says every living creature, the only doubt that I ever had, and they might be childish,

I mean, I certainly believe that all living creatures were destroyed, but why or how were the fish destroyed or how were two of them preserved or did they have a terrarium?

Well, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but it's not affecting the fish,

I guess. He says everything that creeps on the earth, but did he, all living creatures?

Does that mean a fish is not a creature? Well, I'm not sure if it includes the fish or not, but it's certainly the land animals, animals that need, and even the birds die, the breath of life.

So I guess that would not include the fish, but, but as far as the covenant here, the sign of the covenant is what

God put in the sky, the rainbow. Yeah. Why a rainbow?

I don't know. I guess that'll be one of the questions. So, well, here's the thing going back to the canopy theory with the canopy.

Okay. The atmosphere was very different before, before the flood.

I don't think the rainbow, this is just my personal view, that the rainbow could have existed.

It had to be after where the atmosphere, things changed to where the rainbow could now be seen where it couldn't with a different atmosphere.

I mean, that's my theory, but either way with the rainbow, we know that today, you know, some of these same churches that will compromise, here's why it matters.

You say, pastor, does it really matter? Old earth, young earth, local flood, worldwide flood.

What difference does it make? Well, again, it makes a difference how you handle the

Bible. How do you interpret the Bible? I submit to you that anyone who believes in a local flood, at least any pastor who would teach this, he's compromised because there's nothing in the

Bible that says this. And you're, you're really going against what the Bible says. So why would you believe this?

It's a compromise. So again, Bible says this, the world says this, let's find a happy medium.

The same churches that believe in a local flood are the same churches.

Guess what? They compromised on that. Now they're compromising on what you might call the rainbow agenda.

So all of this is connected. The flood is not a hot button issue in our culture today, but other things are.

If you're going to cave on this, you'll definitely cave on other things. And that's why it matters.

And by the way, this is, I think this is a picture from Ken Ham's Ark Encounter.

I think that's what this is. It looks like it, right? You've been there. Is that it? Okay. Very much like that.

I like what Ken Ham did. He lit up the Ark with the rainbow years ago.

You remember, was it 2015? The White House was lit up in rainbow colors.

You know, Christians weren't too thrilled about that. Well, Ken Ham said, okay,

I'm going to light up the Ark with the rainbow, but it's going to symbolize that we're going to teach people what the rainbow actually means, because he said, you know, the rainbow belongs to us.

This is the sign from God. So they're taking it for something else, but we're going to take it back.

So he lit it up and, you know, he caught some heat for that, but I think he was right.

But let's turn to Matthew chapter 24. But this is why I'm doing this study, because I think this really is a matter of, again, how you interpret the

Bible, how you handle it. Are you going to compromise? So whenever I decide what

I'm going to talk about, what I'm going to teach on, I tailor my messages, at least to some degree, what

I think is needed. If there's something going on in the church, not here necessarily, but, you know, in the culture, in the church nationwide,

I'm probably going to address it. So when it comes to a localized flood, like I said, I knew there were churches that either just flat out denied the flood or, yes, they believed in a local flood.

But these were like the rainbow churches. They're not evangelical. We know they don't believe.

So I didn't really think it was a big deal. But now when I see evangelical ministries going along with this stuff, now

I think it's a concern. So I mentioned this one group, the Gospel Coalition.

So the reason why I was thinking about this, I saw online, there's a guy from the Gospel Coalition.

Here's what he said, this guy, Gavin Ortland, from the Gospel Coalition. He says about the flood, and, again, this is an evangelical, supposedly.

He says, I argue that the story can be reasonably read describing a local event.

And here's the part I want to focus on. He says, it is my sincere belief that the church's witness and unity is better served by allowing for that position.

Okay, so it is better for the Church of Jesus Christ if we either teach or at least allow for this local flood position.

Now, why do you think he would say that? If I wanted to give him the benefit of every doubt,

I could say that for the sake of unity, let's say I knew there was a member of Moores Corner Church who held to this position of a localized flood.

I would think you're wrong, and I would try to convince you otherwise, and I'm trying to convince you right now if you believe in a local flood.

But as long as, hey, if that's what you believe, as long as you're not trying to teach it to other people, hey, fine.

For the sake of unity, if that's what you want to believe, I'm not going to make a huge deal about it.

So for the sake of unity, I could maybe see that. However, it's the statement that the church's witness would be helped if we allowed for this other viewpoint.

The church's witness, basically, what he's saying is with the outside world. We will look better to the outside world if we allow for this position.

Because the flip, the flip side would be true that if we hold to a literal view of Noah's Ark in a worldwide flood, that hurts our witness.

Why? Because we look crazy. You guys actually, this church actually believes the story of Noah's Ark?

You believe the worldwide flood? The unbelievers, the atheists, think we're nuts because we believe in Adam and Eve and Noah's Flood.

Now, I think they're crazy because they think monkeys evolved into men. So we understand each other in that way.

But for a Christian to say that, that it basically makes us look bad, or we would look better to the outside world if we just allowed for this position,

I just have to ask, is that true? See, unbelievers, they may be fools in the sense that anyone who says there's no

God, the Bible says, the fool has said there is no God. But unbelievers aren't stupid.

They know generally what the scripture says. They know generally that the Bible says the world was flooded.

If they see us calculating and adjusting our beliefs to try to pander to others, what message would that send?

That, hey, these people don't even really believe it. They're willing to change their beliefs to kind of go along to get along.

I think that actually hurts us because there's already this accusation against Christians that we're hypocrites, we don't really believe this stuff, we don't practice what we preach.

So if they see us compromising, I think even though they may not respect us, they're going to have less respect if they see us backing down and bending every time somebody complains.

They might think we're nuts, but we know that they are. Yeah. All right, let's turn to Matthew 24, and we're almost done.

But I really think this is the slippery slope. So if you don't take the scripture at face value when it comes to Adam and Eve or Noah's Ark, if you're willing to bend on stuff like this, you're definitely going to bend and you're going to break when it comes to those high -pressure issues of gay marriage and stuff like that.

Yeah, eternal life or hellfire. Yeah, hell. Okay, that's another thing people are compromising on, saying

Jesus is the only way to God. Anytime an evangelical preacher goes on TV, on CNN or something, they always ask two questions.

What do you think about gay marriage, and do you think Jesus is the only way? Usually the guys they bring on are the ones who are like, oh, man.

They apologize for what the Bible says. The Hindus, they love

God, too. They have a way of making us look bad, so we don't need to help them out.

Matthew 24, 36 through 44, Jesus is speaking about his second coming.

Remember, Peter tied the flood with the judgment, and now Jesus, to some degree, is doing that here.

Matthew 24, 36, the Lord speaking about his second coming. He says, But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my

Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the

Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark and did not know until the flood came and took them all away.

So also will the coming of the Son of Man be. So what's

Jesus saying? That before the flood, people were just living their lives. Noah preached that the judgment was coming, and people, yeah, they thought he was crazy.

They didn't listen, and the same thing is happening now. People are living their lives.

It's interesting, the statement about marriage and giving in marriage. You wonder what is that line that humanity has to cross to bring the judgment of God?

I don't know, but we know that people are going to be living their lives, and then all of a sudden, it's going to start raining.

But next time, more like raining fire. So in conclusion, one last thing about Noah's ark.

Do you know what the ark symbolizes? Jesus himself.

How is that? The only people that, remember, it only makes sense with a worldwide flood.

The only people that were saved were those who were inside the ark.

And so it is with the Lord's return. In the day of the Lord, the only people who are going to be saved from the judgment to come are those who are in the ark, in Christ.

So for any new listeners, the most important thing is to believe the gospel, be baptized, to be in Christ.