The Flood Recedes

Genesis 8:1-5

A lot of people believe that God started the world into motion then just watches it without taking an active part in it’s function. As we have seen, he actively intervened in Adam’s sin, in the murder of Cain, in shortening mankind’s lifespan, and in starting the flood. He not only caused the flood to come, he actively controls the recovery from it.

“And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.” (Genesis 8:13)

In Genesis 6:17-18 God told Noah, “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. But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.” He had not forgotten his promise of a covenant with Noah, but he made sure all other life was dead before fulfilling it. Genesis 7:11 states, “In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.”

Forty days later, it stopped raining and the underground reservoirs stopped draining. For the next three and a half months the waters steadily receded. Exactly five months after the start of the flood, the ark grounded on top of mount Ararat, but it was almost three months later before they could see the tops of the other mountains. During this period, evaporation and absorption by the ground appears to have been responsible for most tof the drop in water level. It was relatively slow in spite of a special wind sent for the purpose.

“And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.” (Genesis 8:4-5)

Just under five months after the tops of the mountains were first seen, Genesis 8:14 tells us, “And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried.” The rate at which the water receded accelerated dramatically, far beyond what would seem reasonable by the appearance of the mountain tops. We know that the modern aquifers are replenished by absorption of ground water, and God probably caused the same process to operate in a faster manner than it does today, eliminating a lot of the water.

In addition, the broken and tilted construction of modern mountains suggests that they were up thrust in the relatively recent past. Some of the sedimentary layers are not fractured but rather bend smoothly, indicating that those layers had not yet hardened when the upthrust occurred. With the ark safely grounded on mount Ararat, the up thrusting would have caused little problem, especially if it occurred rather slowly. With the ground still saturated and soft, erosion could have produced features like the Grand Canyon in a matter of days, rather than millions of years. Sedimentary rocks containing sea shells could easily have risen to the tops of mountains, where they are often found.

If such up thrusts of the earth’s surface occurred after the flood, it is probable that far less water would have been required to cover the mountains than would be required today, and that the raising of some areas would result in deepening of others, such as the Marianas trench, a huge canyon or trench in the Pacific Ocean, far deeper than any other part of the ocean. Lowering such areas would have allowed the water to drain away rapidly without having to evaporate, speeding up the drying process.

Genesis 2:10-14 indicates that a river flowed from Eden to four rivers. Today those same four rivers flow in the opposite direction, and we are no longer able to locate the Garden of Eden. The fact that the rivers now flow toward the same area rather than away would indicate that the Garden of Eden has sunk. Perhaps it is now under the Mediterranean Sea,the Persian Gulf, or the Red Sea.

Please understand that most of historical geology’s explanations are just as much speculation based an what has been observed as the comments I have made, with the difference that I have tried to say possibly or probably, rather than stating it as proven fact. Neither I, nor the geologists were there to observe what happened. I believe that the flood provides a more plausible explanation for the geologic features around us than does historical geology. That so many ancient cultures have stories of a flood, even though they differ tremendously in detail, indicates that some kind of a flood did occur.

Hebrews 11:6 describes the importance of faith on our part. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” If we cannot believe God in these areas, how can we trust him about anything else. Hebrews 11:3 states, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” I choose to believe what the Bible says, but I do not have to ignore evidence to do so, contrary to what many believe.