The Question; “When Did the Flood Happen?”
In giving “Bible Answers to Spiritual Questions”, I’m very interested in finding out what questions people are actually asking. And I use a computer program that shows, what questions are being typed in to Google and Bing and so forth, and how many times those questions are searched every month. “When did the flood happen” gets searched many times. But here are some of the other things that are actually typed in on searches. “When did the great flood happen”, “Did great flood happen”, “Did a great flood happen”, “Did great flood really happen”, and “Was the flood real”.
So you can see that there is a lot of interest on the subject of the flood. Some people just want to know “When”, while others are asking “Was it real?” Since all those questions are so closely related, I will show you how the bible answers them all. But as always, it will be the bible that answers the questions. You don’t want to just rely on MY opinions or ideas, we all want to know the absolute TRUTH of the matter. And so we GO to the truth, God’s word. Jn 17:17 says plainly, “Thy word is truth!”
When did The Great Flood Happen?
Let’s answer that question first. When did the flood occur, is really an easy question to answer, if we just go to the bible, do a little figuring about the age of the earth (that’s good and controversial, isn’t it? Not if you believe God’s word!), and then do some investigating about the age of the patriarchs, when they were born and how long they lived, and then do a bit of adding and subtracting, you’ll come up with the answer. When did the flood happen? Well, the facts stated in the bible indicate that the flood began in the year 2348 BC. (And God’s word is really all the evidence anyone really needs)
The World is 6020 Years Old
This world, the earth and the universe and all things that God created, are about 6020 years old this year. The pre-Christian calendar goes back to about 4004 BC, and our calendar is up to 2016. Together that adds up to 6020 years. And YES, I can substantiate that with the bible! Noah was born 1056 years after the creation, or in the year 2948 BC. By the way Noah was born just 126 years after Adam died. It’s interesting to note that Noah’s father, Lamech died only five years before the flood. And Methuselah, Noah’s grandfather, died the same year as the flood.
Here’s a couple more interesting facts. There are 11 generations listed from Adam to Noah, spanning 1056 years. The life spans for these ancestors of Noah were so long (the longest was Methuselah at 969 yrs) that Noah’s father Lamech, was a contemporary with Adam! Lamech was born 56 years before Adam died. I find these bible facts, amazing!
Genesis Chapter Five.
By reading Genesis chapter five, God has given us the male line of descent, from Adam down to Noah. He also tells the age of each forefather when their son was born, through who the ancestry continues. By simply adding up all the years, from Adam to Noah, we can easily see how many years had past since creation, until Noah was born. Then it says in Gen 6:6,
“And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of water came upon the earth.” And so we can add up all those years and see that 1656 years went by from the creation, until God flooded the earth. And since history goes back 4004 before Christ came, we can subtract 1656 from 4004, and see that the flood came in the year 2348 BC.
Did a Great Flood Really Happen? / Was The Flood Real?
Now we can turn our attention to these questions. Did a great flood really happen? Was the flood real? Well, let’s again go to the bible and see what the answer is.
First of all, I’d like to say that I realize that a lot of people think the bible is just one fairy tale after another. But I can assure you, it is NOT. God created us, and He knows us inside and out, and God knows what we need. Because of His love for us, we are told in 2 Pet 1:3,
“He has granted us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.”
We are told in Rom 1:20, “For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power, His divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” When God says, “they are without excuse”, He is speaking of those who deny God, and deny God’s truth.
In verse 18, God’s word had spoken of, “those who suppress the truth”. Verse 19 says, “Because that which is known about God, is evident among them, for God MADE it evident!” Just look around you; all of creation is NO accident!
That’s why it says in Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse is showing the work of His hands.”
God is not a fairy tale, and neither is His word. His word is “The power of God, for salvation, to all who believe..” Rom 1:16.
And so the word of God is true, and the word is trustworthy. God’s word not only affirms that the flood was real, and that it most assuredly did happen, but God tells us WHY it happened, and He has also given us a COVENANT, promising that it will never happen again.
Why did God flood the earth?
The answer is plain and simple. Gen 5:5-7 tells us plainly;
“Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of his heart was evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. And the Lord said; I will blot out man whom I have created, from the face of the land; from man to creeping things, to birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I have made them!” Verse 8 says, “But Noah, found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”
And so God directed Noah to build an ark, and God said to Noah, “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall enter the ark, you and your sons and your wife, and your son’s wives with you.” Gen 6:18.
Gen 7:11-12 tells us; “In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day, all the fountains of the great deep, burst open, and the floodgates of the sky were opened. And the rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights.”
And so God affirms in Gen 7:23-24, “Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man, to animals, to creeping things, and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those who were with him in the ark. And the water prevailed upon the earth, one hundred and fifty days.”
The Sign of the Covenant
I mentioned that God even made a covenant with Noah, and God tells us about that covenant, in Gen 9:9-17. For the sake of brevity with this article, allow me to quote just verses 12-15. But please, go ahead and read the entire context for yourself. Here’s verses 12-15,
“And God said; this is the sign of the covenant, which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations. I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.”
Every time you see a rainbow, remember that this bow, is the sign of the covenant between God, and all creation. God said in Gen 9:15, “..Never again shall the water become a flood to destroy all flesh.”
Did a Great Flood Really Happen? / Was the Flood Real?
You may as well ask; Is God Real? Does God really Exist? Is the bible really the word of God? Is the word of God the truth? The answer to these questions, right from the bible is: YES, YES, YES, and YES!
God Refers to the Great Flood, in the New Testament
Some people began to doubt, whether or not Christ would ever come again, as God had promised. Here’s what they were saying, as recorded in 2 Pet 3:4,
“Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation! Here’s God’s answer to these scoffers. Verses 5-7 tells us,
“For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice, that by the word of God, the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time, was destroyed being flooded with water. But the present heavens and earth, by His word, are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.”
The Word of God, is an awesome thing!
If we accept God’s word, for what it truly is, and if we obey God’s word (Heb 5:9) “He is the author of salvation to all those who OBEY Him“), then His word becomes “The power of God for salvation”
Thanks so much for listening to “Bible answers to spiritual Questions”. God bless you in your search for the truth. Any and all comments and questions are greatly appreciated, and I will respond to all.