Flood

We don’t know how much of the world was covered by the waters

In one of his messages at his evangelistic crusade in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1996, Billy Graham said that he wasn't sure if the flood of Noah's day were worldwide, or if it were only regional. He said that we don't know how much of the world was covered by the waters. The New Bible Commentary, published by InterVarsity Press, takes a similar position with this comment on Genesis 6: "The narrative does not directly affirm a universal flood ... deductions drawn from the assumption that all mankind was destroyed are precarious" (page 88).

Confutation

According to the Holy Scriptures, the flood which occurred in the days of Noah was universal and not local, for it is written: “Now the flood was on the earth forty 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 on the surface of the waters. And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered. And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts 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 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” (Genesis 7:17-23 – NKJV). As you can see, all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered by the waters of the flood, and the waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits (about 6.9 meters). As a consequence of that great flood, every living thing that moved on the earth perished.

Furthermore, we deduce that the flood was universal from the fact that God said to Noah: “And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive” (Genesis 6:19-20 – NKJV). If the flood were local, God would not have spoken to Noah those words, for animals would have survived outside of the flood area.

In addition to this, we deduce that the flood of Noah’s days was a worldwide flood from the fact that Jesus likened the day on which the Son of Man will be revealed to the day on which Noah entered the ark and the flood came. Listen to His words: “And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all …. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed” (Luke 17:26-27, 30 – NKJV). In other words, just as the flood in the days of Noah came on the whole world unexpectedly, so the day of the Lord will come unexpectedly on all those who live on earth, as it is written that that Day “will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth” (Luke 21:35 – NKJV).

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