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The World Underwater

From Issue: Discovery 6/1/2002

Most of us have seen news clips on television picturing flooded towns, with boats or helicopters rescuing stranded people from the tops of houses. Some of you might have even been in a flood and had your basement filled with water or your car buried underwater. But there was one flood in the world’s history that makes all the other floods look like tiny mud puddles-Noah’s Flood. The Flood of Noah’s day was not a local flood that covered a small area of land like a city or a town. It was a huge, global flood that covered the entire world.

In Genesis 7:19, the Bible explains that during the Flood of Noah’s day “all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered.” As we think about this verse, we realize that the most difficult thing for any flood to cover is a high hill. In fact, most floods do not cover high hills; they cover lower areas of land like valleys or plains. If the high hills were covered, then all of the area that was lower than the hills had to be covered as well. As we look closer at this verse, we see that all of the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. Not one single hill on the entire Earth was left dry. That would mean that the only dry area on the globe would have been inside Noah’s ark. The Flood of Noah’s day covered the whole Earth.

It is interesting to learn that today there are over 220 different countries in the world that have flood legends. Countries such as China, Babylon, and Norway have flood legends that tell of a huge flood that killed most of mankind and flooded the world. The stories were not copied from the Bible, and they did not copy one another. Where did these different flood legends originate? Let’s think. If every person on the Earth was killed during the Flood except Noah’s family, then every person living today would be a distant relative of Noah. After the Flood, doesn’t it make sense to think that Noah and his children would pass the story of the Flood on to their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren? It is no wonder that almost every civilization has a flood story, since every civilization is related to Noah and his family.

We are thankful that God preserved the facts of the Flood for us in the Bible. By sending the Flood, He showed us that He will not tolerate sin, but He will reward righteous people. Let us all live righteous lives so that we can be with Noah someday in heaven.


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