Was the Flood Worldwide?

God minces no words in telling Noah what’s about to transpire: “The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth” (Genesis 6:13).

Science and history offer proof of a worldwide flood as evidenced by the fossil record. However, two hypotheses could be formed based on the fossils we’ve found: either billions of years have passed in which multiple billions of animals and organisms have died and fossilized, or one incredible, worldwide, cataclysmic event occurred that wiped out all life at the same time.

Those hypotheses are mutually exclusive. They both can’t be true. If a flood occurred after billions of years of death and fossilization, we wouldn’t have so many fossils today. But if the earth isn’t that old and a flood did occur, we’d find fossils everywhere. In fact, I remember as a child that I’d find seashell fossils near the mountains in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That’s not exactly close to any massive body of water.

The flood was not a localized event.

Some notable pastors and Bible scholars teach that the great flood was actually a localized flood, that the flood was only as far as Noah could see. Aside from the historical evidence already presented, a greater problem exists with such an interpretation: God’s own Word.

In the latter part of Genesis 8:21, God promises Noah, “neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.” If his “smiting” was just a localized flood, then God certainly hasn’t kept that promise. Localized flooding that kills humans and animals happens every day all over the world. If the flood recorded in Genesis was just a localized flood, and God promised to never do that again, then he’s broken his promise maybe a million times over.

Consider this: When did a worldwide flood last occur?

Additionally, Jesus’s words in Matthew 24:37 provide further evidence of a global phenomenon: “But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” If we interpret the flood as having been a localized event, then Jesus must be saying that the last days will also see localized flooding. But if you do your research about the end times, you’ll realize that the world would be fortunate to endure localized judgment in the end times and not the global terror that will descend.

The flood is the beginning of the third dispensation: government.

The latter part of Genesis 8:17 ought to sound very familiar, and with good reason: “Be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth.” To Noah and his family, God echoes the exact instruction he gave to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God wants to ensure that these 100 percent human people begin procreating in order to birth 100 percent human babies.

Fascinatingly, but not surprisingly, the Nephilim reappear later in Scripture. When they rise again, the Bible records God’s immediate displeasure and his command to his people to not just avoid them, but to eradicate them. This understanding helps make sense of the seemingly barbaric commands God gives the Israelites to blot out entire cities. Because God has promised not to wipe out the earth again, he must use his people to ensure that the human blood line remains pure.

A small example of this is the contrast between how the murderer Cain was treated and how murderers after the flood were treated. Cain was banished. Murderers in Noah’s day and beyond were immediately put to death (Genesis 9:6).

Thus begins the dispensation of government, where eyes were taken for eyes and tooths taken for tooths. Why? To prevent evil from spreading like the virus that the flood had to drown.