Chapter Five - The Reason for the Flood
Before we discuss the Hydroplate Theory and the scientific evidence for the flood, let us stop to consider one very important truth — the reason for the flood. We know that there was a global flood, and we know that there is plenty of scientific evidence to support it, but what was the reason for the flood? I believe a bit of Bible history is in order here…In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Within the creation week, on the 6th day, God created man in His own image. We know this man as Adam. The Lord God made Adam a helpmate (a wife) and placed them in the garden, eastward in Eden to dress it and to keep it. This very first couple lived in perfect harmony with God. There was no death, no sorrow, no disease, no thorns, etc. They lived in a paradise on earth. The world they lived in was virtually “heaven on earth.” It is uncertain how long they lived in this state, but eventually Adam messed up. Adam committed the very first sin by disobeying God and taking of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It was at this point that man lost his “paradise,” as Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden and the whole universe was cursed as a result of Adam’s sin. Women would now bring forth children with great pain and man would labor and toil by the sweat of his brow.
At this point, God told Adam and Eve to be fruitful and fill up the earth (with people). The Bible tells us that Adam begat “sons and daughters,” and the generations that came after Adam are plainly declared in the scriptures. Over 1000 years and many generations passed until a man named Noah was born. Noah was a descendant of Seth and the great grandson of Enoch (the man who walked with God and was translated).
According to statistics, there could have easily been anywhere from 100 million to several billion people on the earth in the days of Noah. Unfortunately, the days in which Noah lived were terribly ungodly. We read of the depravity of that generation of people in Genesis chapter 6.
Genesis 6:5 “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”
Imagine a day where nobody was righteous. Imagine a time when there were no churches in every city and no missionaries in every country. Imagine a time when literally everybody lived unrestrained without any moral authority. The Bible does not tell us exactly what the world was like before the flood, but it does give us this insight:
Genesis 6:11-12 “The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.”
In some ways, this is very difficult to imagine, but in other ways it is not. It is difficult to think of a time when nobody, except for one man, was righteous before God. Think about it. Imagine a population with millions (possibly billions) of people, and out of all of them, only one was righteous. Everybody else had corrupted his way upon the earth.
The corruption is not completely difficult to imagine however, since we see this in our own day. The longer you live, the more you discover that people are the same everywhere you go, in every generation that lives. There is nothing new under the sun. All nations, cultures, societies, and generations are subject to the same sins and abominations of their ancestors and neighbors. Just as today, our world is filled with violence, corruption, murder, rape, incest, homosexuality, divorce, hate, cruelty, torture, wars, tyranny, communism, oppression, lies, deception, gambling, drugs, prostitution, devil worship, idolatry, adultery, fornication, anger, perversion, drunkenness, fighting, etc. (it’s depressing just to list these things), so was the world in Noah’s time. The difference is that everybody, literally everybody, except for Noah was partaking in such filthiness. This is very difficult to imagine, but such was the case.
I personally believe that just as we can never fully appreciate and understand the perfect harmony and beauty that existed before Adam’s fall, we will probably never be able to fully grasp the horror and terror of the world before the flood.
Because of this great wickedness, God determined to destroy the whole world:
Genesis 6:7 “And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.”
The Bible makes it very clear that God was not planning on “slapping anybody on the wrist.” This was a very serious decision and an even more serious and severe judgment. The Lord determined to completely destroy every living thing that breathed on the earth.
Genesis 6:13 “And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.”
Genesis 6:17 “And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die.”
This is very important to remember and consider whenever you study about the global flood. Considering that this event was the most severe judgment that God ever passed upon man in the history of the world, one would expect it to be devastating and catastrophic. This is very hard for many people to imagine because they have what I call a “stain on their brain.” A “stain on the brain” is a thought or an idea that has been implanted on somebody’s mind that they have a hard time getting out, even though it is wrong.
For example, most people think “happy thoughts” whenever they think about Noah and the flood. They think of all the pictures that are seen in children’s books, paintings, and art fairs. People think of the cute, smiling animals and the giraffe sticking his long neck out of the porthole in the side of the ark, while Noah stands happily waving his hand as he stands on deck with a beautiful rainbow behind him. Take a look at some of the following pictures as an example:
All of these pictures represent the stain on the brain that many people have. Not one, not even one of these pictures is Biblically sound, and they definitely do not convey the message of the destruction of the earth by a furious Creator, who was literally fed up with fallen humanity.
Furthermore, the Bible plainly declares that the earth will be destroyed again in a way similar to the way it was destroyed the first time by the flood. Apparently, the world will this time be destroyed by fire and heat:
2 Peter 3:10 “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”
In verses 5-7 of the same chapter of 2 Peter, we read how this coming destruction is likened to the previous destruction of the earth in Noah’s day. The Bible teaches here, in this chapter, that one of the signs of the last days will be that people will begin to scoff and mock, and question the certainty of the Lord’s return. The Bible then declares that “this they willingly are ignorant of,” that just as the whole earth was destroyed by water in a global flood by the word of God, so “… the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
Therefore, anybody who denies the truth of the global flood, and every effort to minimize the catastrophe of the flood is literally fulfilling this prophecy from the book of 2 Peter about the spirit of scoffers in the last days! This is why those children’s books with false pictures about the flood, should not be used in a true Christian home. This may sound harsh, but you cannot promote and fill your child with error and expect him to grow up and learn the truth. Fill them with truth, and they will grow up with the truth and love the truth. Fill them with error, and they will grow up with error and turn to confusion.
Ultimately, the most important thing here is to realize that a simple reading of the purpose of the flood in Genesis chapter 6 plainly declares that the judgment which God passed upon “every living thing” was terribly severe and the logical thinker should assume that it was extremely catastrophic!
As you are about to see, the flood may have been more disastrous and cataclysmic than you have ever imagined…