A Journey Through The Old Testament - Elmer Towns

8 The Flood which followed the entering into of the ark illustrates baptism which follows
salvation (1 Peter 3:21).
THE JUDGMENT WATERS (Gen. 7:1-5:19)
After the ark was completed, God invited Noah and his family to come aboard. Apparently it took a
full week to get everyone and everything aboard. Assuming the food supplies were already aboard, there
were still two of every unclean animal and seven of every clean animal that came aboard the ark (Gen. 7:2;
8:9). According to the estimates of Morris and Whitcomb (The Genesis Flood, Baker, 1961) this involved
about 35,000 individual animals representing all of the known species of animals today. Because many of
these were small, they suggest there was no difficulty holding all of them in the ark. The care of these
animals on the ark may have been greatly simplified if the animals engaged in hibernation, as do many
species of animals today.
When the ark was completely loaded, “the Lord shut him in” (Gen. 7:16). That same day it began to
rain. The resulting Flood was caused not only by the rain but also by the release of subterranean bodies of
water described as “the fountains of the deep” (v. 11). The eruption of the fountains of the deep seems to
imply an explosion. The tremendous pressure of water on the face of the earth would cause mudslides and
changes in its terrain. All human life except Noah and his family was destroyed. All animal life disappeared.
The horrendous results gave evidence of the judgment by God.
Many creation scientists believe the world was surrounded by a heavy atmosphere, just as the
Planet Venus is covered with thick clouds today. They call this the “Canopy Theory”; however, the
term could convey the idea of a plastic shield which is misleading. They believe in the thick
atmosphere idea because: (1) there was no rain before the Flood and the ground was watered by
mist (2:5); (2) archeology reveals vegetation in all parts of the planet implying the earth had a
tropic arctic effect; (3) it accounts for dinosaurs which were primarily plant-eating animals; (4) it
accounts for long life, if among other things ultraviolet rays were shielded; (5) the source of the
waters that were used in the judgment of the earth; and (6) when God “divided” the atmosphere on
day two into the sky and waters, He did not say it was good as He said on the other days of
Creation, because He would finish dividing the atmosphere in the Flood. Another implication of
the “Canopy Theory” is that seasons were introduced after the Flood (8:22), and that the Flood was
more than a gigantic natural flood of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, but that it was a judgment of
God on mankind and creation.
When the rain stopped, the waters continued to rise for another 110 days. Noah and his
family would spend over a year aboard the ark before returning to dry earth.
Sin had so dominated the antediluvian world that it required a catastrophic judgment from
God. The Flood was successful in destroying all life on earth which remained outside the ark. So
thorough was the destruction of the world that then existed, that archeologists have yet to find
traces of that former civilization. Unbelievers have suggested the story of the Flood in the Bible
came from the several legends in ancient civilizations. The opposite is obviously the case. So
memorable was this event in the minds of Noah and his descendants that virtually every
civilization remembers among their legends the story of a great universal flood.
HOW LONG WAS NOAH ON THE ARK?
40 It began raining the day Noah and his family entered the ark and rained for forty days
(7:11-13).