In our church we have been doing our best to simply preach the text through Genesis and bring out the truths that the biblical author (Moses under the inspiration of God) intended. As we approach Genesis 7 this Sunday, we will do that yet again. Genesis 7 teaches us about trusting God's word, believing in his promise and warnings, living out our faith in a corrupt world, and being reverent before God's holiness. Genesis 7 also gives us the hope of the gospel in God preserving an heir of righteousness (Noah) to keep our sights on the hope of a true, eternal Savior.
While we are preaching these important truths from the text of Scripture, we also can't lose sight of the fact that our hope in the gospel stands in the reality of God's active providence in real history. The redeeming plan of God happens through the pages of history as it progresses to Christ. Therefore, there is a place (an important place) for seeing corroborating evidence for historical narratives that give us eternal truths. In other words, the lessons from the flood have come to us in a history that has left its mark physically. More importantly, we have a true history in the scriptures that even explains the physical world we live in.
What are the expected physical results of a global catastrophic flood? For the purposes of answering this for our blog this week, I'm going to borrow from PhD Geologist, Dr Andrew Snelling. (I'll leave a link to his full article at the bottom).
1. Marine Fossils on High Mountains.
The text of Genesis 7 explicitly talks of the waters of the flood exceeding the top of mountains by 15 cubits (22 feet) and that every mountain under heaven was covered. It also talks about the fountains of the deep bursting open to bring water from the reservoirs below the land. The expectation is that sea life at the time would have been distributed across the entire globe covering mountains. We would expect to see marine fossils present even on the highest peaks of mountains once covered by water. We do - even at the peaks around Mt Everest.
2. Massive Fossil Graveyards Across the Globe.
Across the world there are fossil graveyards containing both marine and land animals buried together in huge numbers. Some graveyards, like the one found in the Redwall Limestone of the Grand Canyon cover areas stretching for 180 miles. Many such graveyards are found across the world.
3. Exquisitely Preserved Fossils.
Due to the rapid nature of the burial of life forms in the catastrophe of the flood, many creatures were fossilized quicky, preserving exquisite detail. There have been fossils found of creatures in the process of eating other creatures or even in the process of giving birth. Often intricate details of even delicate creatures such as jellyfish have been preserved.
4. Wide Spread of Sedimentary Layers
The flood with global proportions of the flood of Noah incur a massive scope of sedimentation. There are sedimentary layers that cover large portions of whole continents and in some cases even between continents. There is also evidence of layers within and between continents with the same order of distinct layers above and below.
5. Layers with no Indication of Erosion
If the sedimentary layers we see in most geological formations were deposited one on top of the other slowly over millions of years, we would expect to see much evidence of erosion by long term weathering. Instead, layering mostly shows evidence of flat boundaries with no erosion or some evidence of rapid erosion more consistent with a flood catastrophe.
6. Folds in Sedimentary Layers.
Everyone knows that rocks are not pliable. They only crack and break. There are many examples in sedimentary layers of folds containing many layers without any cracking. The only viable explanation for this is that these folds happened while the layers were still wet prior to hardening.
This overview doesn't really do it justice. If you have the time, read Dr Snelling's article linked below where you will also see some great diagrams and photos for further help.
The big message of Scripture is given to us in the reality of history. It's a history that happened in this world and has left physical evidence in testimony of the accuracy of the biblical record. It's a history that God's providential hand is constantly ordaining and guiding. The bible is not a mythological or philosophical idea dreamed up by men. It's the real world.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the true hope for humanity, and it is a hope proclaimed in God's word for humans living in God's world.