What brought on the Flood?

Our God is not capricious, like other so-called deities. When He acts He has a reason, and He isn't unpredictable. God will give us plenty of warning before He calls us into account to Him. He is also very slow to anger. He is quick to show mercy and hear us when we repent. But His mercy and patience do come to an end. There is a time when even our most plaintiff pleas will not be entertained.


The people who faced the judgment of the Flood experienced just that sort of treatment from God. But they, like us, were given ample warning and space to repent before God finally called them into account. So, what was so terrible that God decided to wipe the globe clean of all land-based life and start fresh? It will be to our instruction if we would find this out, and then heed its warning.


When the Flood came, man had only existed outside of the garden of Eden for 1656 years. This figure can be arrived at by carefully reading Genesis 5 and counting up the age at which each man had a son then totaling them. Immediately, we notice something quite odd about the ages of these men (i.e. Adam was 130 years old when Seth was born, and 930 years old at death) Their lifespans were incredibly long, especially by today's standards. Were they really that old when they procreated? For that matter, did they really live as long as the Bible records? If you have read many of my blogs, you will already know my answer to those questions.


I would like to offer a possible explanation for their incredibly long lifespans. The Bible doesn't explain why they lived so long, it just demands that we believe that they did. So, my explanation for it is just a hypothesis, and worth probably about as much as any opinion is. There are two main reasons for the great lifespans: 1.) a protective water canopy surrounding the Earth, and 2.) lack of genetic deformity, or genetic proclivity for a short life. According to science, the causes of aging are still not certainly known, but the theories for it generally fall into two broad categories: accumulated deformity due to environmental conditions and genetic predisposition. This seems to fit quite well with the hypothesis I am presenting.


In Genesis 1:6-8 we read of God's restoration of the Earth on the second day. It states:



"And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day."


This can not be a description of God creating a division of the oceans by the land. The description of God dividing the land and ocean is given on the third day. And even in this description, the ocean isn't said to be divided as we see it today. Notice what it says in v. 9,


"And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so."


So, if you just take the words literally, you have three divisions. Water above the heaven (sky), water below the heaven (sky), and then dry land below the heaven. We have an Earth that has one ocean, and one connected landmass, and one orbital water canopy.


Many people have cast doubt on the Flood by saying that the sky couldn't hold enough water to rain that much water down. And they are correct in this assertion. In fact, according to the USGS website, the atmosphere can only hold about 0.001 % of all the water on the Earth at any given time. Also, according to this site, if it all rained out at once, it would only cover the ground to about an inch. That would be no where near the amount needed to cover every mountaintop to a depth of around 20 feet as stated in Genesis 7. So, the atmosphere could not have been the only source of water for the Flood. The orbital water canopy surrounding the Earth gets around this problem with ease. There is no telling how much diffuse water could have been in orbit around our Earth before the Flood.


I believe that this water canopy had some wonderful beneficial affects on mankind. It would have shielded men from the most directly harmful rays from the Sun. UV radiation is known today to cause many forms of cancer, but it is also known that radiation from the Sun can also negatively impact our DNA. To make a long story short, if you destroy or deform DNA, you cause health problems and sometimes death.


Secondly, according to the scientific theories on aging, some believe that we have genes that program our bodies to prepare for death by shutting them down as we age. This theory has some support. When sheep or any other animal have been cloned from the somatic cells of an adult of their species, they don't live a complete lifespan. It seems that those somatic cells taken from the adult retain a "memory" of the age of the original animal. For example, if a sheep has an ordinary lifespan of 11 to 12 years, a clone taken from a 6 year old sheep should be expected to survive for only 5 to 6 years. There seems to be a genetic predisposition for death, and that predisposition is passed on when the cells replicate to form the clone. (Germ cells, or sperm and egg cells, are different.) Another genetic problem that is thought to cause death is that as DNA is replicated, the copies tend to get less and less accurate. As a result, the DNA becomes less effective at repairing our bodies when damaged, or regulating the body systems. This causes wrinkles, loss of organ function, etc. Eventually, the DNA itself is shortened to a degree to render it nonfunctional. Cell death occurs, and eventually when that occurs enough it leads to our death.


I believe that two things are evident from a Biblical perspective. One is that sin causes death (Romans 6:23). The farther we are down the line from Adam, who was created with a perfect body, the more sin has a chance to work. This can manifest itself as disease and death. The other belief of evidence is that God placed in us genes that limit our lifespan. This could have taken place at the Fall (Genesis 3:19), or after the Flood. I do know that God says in Psalms 90:9-10,


"For all our days are passed away in Thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore and ten (70 years); and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years (80 years), yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away."


Our normal lifespan is only about 70 to 80 years. We all know of those extreme cases where people live to be 100 or possibly 120, but that is about it. No modern person has lived as long as those recorded in the Bible. There is a reason for that. The sins of the antediluvians has had consequences that still affect us to this day.


So, what was this sin? Let's see what the account says. Genesis 6:1-7,


"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and fowls of the air; for it repenteth Me that I have made them."


Now we come to a somewhat controversial portion of the Word of God among scholars. There are two basic schools of thought as to who these sons of God were. There really is no doubt as to who the daughters of men are. They are human women. But the sons of God are thought by one group to be the "righteous" line of Seth, while another group believe them to be the fallen demonic angels of Satan. My personal belief from scripture is that these sons of God are fallen angels. When you compare scripture with scripture and look at the context of the passage, there really can be no other conclusion. While it is true that both humans and angels are spoken of as "sons of God", when you understand the title, the issue is quickly cleared up.


"Son of God" is a title given to someone who is in a position of rulership or is destined for rulership under God's authority. In Job 1 and 2, we have another description of sons of God.


Job 1:6 states,


"Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them..."


Job 2:1 states,


"Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD..."


Apparently, all the angelic host that are in rulership, both good and bad, are required to report to God on a periodic basis. What would they be reporting to God? God is the ultimate Authority in the Universe, He sets their bounds and degree of power they are allowed to use, and they must give an account to Him of their respective providence. It can't be denied that Satan is the ruler of this world and that he has subordinates (demons) under his authority.


Ephesians 2:2 states,


"Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air (Satan), the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:"


Ephesians 6:10-13 states,


"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and the power of His might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."


This really gets at the heart of the cause of the Flood. In the years before the Flood, the daughters born to men had started allowing (maybe even seeking) fraternization with demonic angels. As a result of this unholy action, several things occurred. It produced a race of giants wholly against God and his people. It produced a further degradation of the human race, whereby the thoughts of their hearts were evil continually. Sounds quite familiar to me. This is a very good description of the world we live in today (Luke 17:26-30).


God then sets a limit as to how long He will allow this degradation to go on. He give man 120 years to repent and turn to Him. Then at the end of those 120 years God sends judgment on mankind in the form of the Flood. What about those sons of God? God deals with them as well.


2Peter 2:4-5 states,


"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell (tartarus), and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;"

(See also Jude 1:6)


God didn't allow these demonic angels to stay free. He incarcerated them into the lowest parts of hell to await the judgment of the Great White Throne.


"Tartarus" (G5020) tartaroo - the name of the subterranean region, doleful and dark, regarded by the ancient Greeks as the abode of the wicked dead, where they suffer punishment for their wicked deeds,


The Greeks saw Tartarus as the worst part of hell. Only the worst of the worst went to this region. It is interesting to note that this is the only occurrence of this word in the New Testament and it is in connection to these angels who went into the daughters of men. The offenses of those demons were so great, they could not be allowed to roam about freely. Why was it considered so great? Because it was an attempt to prevent the birth of the seed of the woman, the Lord Jesus Christ (Genesis 3:15). If they could completely infect the entire human race with their seed, then the Lord Jesus could never have been born. Their attempts were nearly successful. It came down to only one family of eight people.


So our take home message, as it were, is that we should never entertain any sort of demonic influences in our lives. We should resist them in the power of the Lord. We shouldn't actively go out and be "demon hunters," but we should allow God to be our defense and His word to be our offense. We should seek to be like Noah. We should have our lives bent toward God and His ways. If we do, we will be delivered through the judgement that is coming and enter into a new world.