Scenario 1: A skeptic happens to ask you about the veracity of the account of the global deluge and the Ark of Noah, when all you want to do is just share the gospel. How would you respond? Is this biblical account consisting of a deluge and an ark just a mere distraction for this “critical thinker”? Would it not be easier to simply change the subject and to focus on the love of Jesus? Does there exist some dichotomy between Genesis 6-8 and John 3:16? Is Genesis only meant to be taught to children while the Gospel of John to spiritually lost adults?
Scenario 2: Although we believe that, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17, ESV), is there a reason for which we should preach and write about the deluge? The principal focus of the deluge and the Ark of Noah in the book of Genesis has been mainly expounded in childhood ministries, it has not been common in sermons or books meant for adults (especially of the reformed kind).
What do we do with Genesis 6-9 and how does it relate to 2 Timothy 3:16-17, in order that “the man of God may be complete?”
The apostle Peter responds to both scenarios:
…knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly (2 Peter 3:3-7).
The Deluge and the Ark
If you were to close your eyes in order to extract a memory of the presented images in Sunday school, or in Christian children’s books, on the global deluge of Noah’s time in the book of Genesis, what is it that comes to mind? Is it perhaps something like this?
The above image represents what the majority of us have seen since our childhood. Although the artist is surely well-intentioned, and although it does succeed to entertain the child during their time in nursery or Sunday school, it ends up being an image that unintentionally undermines the seriousness of God’s righteousness and judgment.
The Deluge and the Judgment of God
The deluge teaches various lessons concerning the righteousness of God, and each of them emphasizes that the judgment of God is:
- Imminent: The judgment of God is not poetic, mythical, nor allegorical, but rather arrives with the full fury of His wrath.
- Universal: The judgment of God is not restricted to a locality, it has a broad scope that can encompass everything and everyone.
- Just: Men and women, being created in the image and likeness of God, sin every day, they only stop sinning when they sleep, and they sleep expecting to recharge overnight in order to continue sinning when they awaken (Jer. 10:7-8, 14; Eccl. 9:3; Rom. 3:23).
And the Ark demonstrates to us lessons concerning the grace of God, all of which emphasizes that the grace of God is:
- Merciful: Although His wrath could consume the entire cosmos (including every living being), God elects some persons for salvation. This salvation also includes the restoration of the cosmos (Rom. 8:20-22).
- Immovable: God had promised the serpent that the seed of Eve would crush his head (Gen. 3:15) and that nothing would cut off the seed’s lineage. Although God’s righteous wrath is towards all of humanity, and its scope extends to each person, God had already promised that a seed would come, and for that very reason, the lineage that led to its fulfillment was not cut off.
- God’s Unconditional Election: There is a great misunderstanding in relation to the person of Noah. Genesis 6:5-6 states: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.” In the same way God looks upon the world today, for “none is righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:10), but two verses later we read “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord” (Gen. 6:8).
Afterwards, in order to provide us with an account of the generations of Noah, Moses informs us that Noah was a “just” and “good” man. This is said retrospectively, after Noah’s drunkenness and the situation with his son Ham. How is it possible for him to be just and good? Because first, the text says that he found grace, and grace does not depend on us, but on the perfect will of God revealed in election. The apostle Paul reminds us of Habakkuk’s words that “the righteous shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17), so Noah was justified by means of his faith, in spite of his sins, and by means of the divine election of God (and for His glory).
By that divine grace, eight persons were elected from the family of Noah for salvation. It is for that reason that Genesis 7:1 says that Noah was “righteous” when God commanded him to enter the Ark with his family. Noah had faith in God, and it had manifested in his obedience to the command that he had received to build the Ark. In a similar manner, the means of our salvation is the unconditional election of God for His glory; and by His grace, He effects it through the faith that is given to poor elect sinners by the sole merit of Christ’s death on the cross for our justification.
Characteristics of the Deluge
The time for a biblical apologetic has arrived (although the need has always been present), and given this reality, we need men and women who can take up the torch of the gospel and its defense in the face of a skeptical and lost world. One of the key points in our defense has to do with the historicity of the biblical narrative. And so, among many other events, it is key that we know some details concerning the deluge and the Ark. These details are found in the Word of God, so they have eternal meaning. I have no doubt that there is an interest and willingness on the part of our leaders to know and learn other subjects and themes, but the truth is that there is a lack of academic resources that demonstrate to us not only the details, but the importance of the deluge and the Ark of Noah.
The Historicity of the Biblical Account versus Extra-Biblical Accounts
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on that day all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the windows of the heavens were opened (Gen. 7:11).
Although the survivors of the Deluge and their descendants would pass on verbal accounts of what would later arrive in written form, the only account that is constant and congruent in terms of historical integrity is what we find in the Bible.[1] This detail is important because the sheer number of legends concerning floods all over the world affirm that this Deluge was a real event. In fact, many of the details of this event and its historical context coincide with what the Bible teaches:
It is important for the reader to understand here that this similarity does not mean that the deluge accounts have a common fount (or source), but rather that they have a common event. Consider the fact that only the Bible presents to us the day, month, and year together with the order of the events and the persons involved. This means that the biblical account is of a historical narrative genre and not of a mythological genre merely/loosely based on some historical event.
[1] See Monty White, “Flood Legends”, Answers in Genesis. Accessed December 30, 2021, https://answersingenesis.org/the-flood/flood-legends/flood-legends/.