5-12-19 Sermon Notes
“Origins” “Evidence of a Global Catastrophe” – Genesis 7:1-24
Introduction
Last week, we looked at the consequence of sin – death. Now we will continue to look at the familiar story of Noah and the Flood.
Read Genesis 7:1-24
Genesis 7:1-24 New International Version (NIV)
7 “The Lord then said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. 2 Take with you seven pairs of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and one pair of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, 3 and also seven pairs of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth. 4 Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe from the face of the earth every living creature I have made.”
5 And Noah did all that the Lord commanded him.
6 Noah was six hundred years old when the floodwaters came on the earth. 7 And Noah and his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives entered the ark to escape the waters of the flood. 8 Pairs of clean and unclean animals, of birds and of all creatures that move along the ground, 9 male and female, came to Noah and entered the ark, as God had commanded Noah. 10 And after the seven days the floodwaters came on the earth.
11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month—on that day all the springs of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. 12 And rain fell on the earth forty days and forty nights.
13 On that very day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, together with his wife and the wives of his three sons, entered the ark. 14 They had with them every wild animal according to its kind, all livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind and every bird according to its kind, everything with wings. 15 Pairs of all creatures that have the breath of life in them came to Noah and entered the ark. 16 The animals going in were male and female of every living thing, as God had commanded Noah. Then the Lord shut him in.
17 For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth, and as the waters increased they lifted the ark high above the earth. 18 The waters rose and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the water. 19 They rose greatly on the earth, and all the high mountains under the entire heavens were covered. 20 The waters rose and covered the mountains to a depth of more than fifteen cubits. 21 Every living thing that moved on land perished—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the creatures that swarm over the earth, and all mankind.22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.
24 The waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days.”
Message
Introduction
Anthropologists have records of at least 270 flood legends from Babylon, Greece, several African cultures, Asia, European, Australian, and even Native American.
- Polynesian legend (Hawaiian) says, “Long after 1st man, people were very wicked and Nuhu built a giant canoe with a house on it and took two of every animal and they were saved.
- Chinese legend says a man named Fuhi with his wife and three sons and three daughters entered a large ship and survived the flood and afterward they repopulated the earth.
Remarkable similarity! Stories of an event remembered by all peoples who are descendants of Noah and family.
90% talk of a favored family, almost 70% reference result of man’s wickedness, 95% say global flood, 70% say survival by a large boat, almost 70% referenced animals survived on a boat, almost 60% referenced landing on a mountain after the flood was over.
The secular opinion is that the earth is billions of years old, some form of evolution created everything and the flood was only regional! All in contrast to what the Bible says.
Now on to the message. It is not my intent to convince you that this was a global flood. So, if you are in the ‘camp’ of believing that there was a flood and that there was a Noah, but not totally believing that it was world-wide, here are a few things to consider. And if you are like me as believing that it was a global flood, but wished that I had some answers (information) when questioned about it, these few things are also for you.
Evidence 1: Fossils of sea creatures high above sea level due to the ocean waters having flooded over the continents
We find fossils of sea creatures in rock layers that cover all the continents. For example, most of the rock layers in the walls of Grand Canyon (more than a mile above sea level) contain marine fossils. Fossilized shellfish are even found in the Himalayas.
Evidence 2: Rapid burial of plants and animals
We find extensive fossil “graveyards” and exquisitely preserved fossils. For example, billions of nautiloid fossils are found in a layer within the Redwall Limestone of Grand Canyon. This layer was deposited catastrophically by a massive flow of sediment (mostly lime sand). The chalk and coal beds of Europe and the United States, and the fish, ichthyosaurs, insects, and other fossils all around the world, testify of catastrophic destruction and burial.
Evidence 3: Rapidly deposited sediment layers spread across vast areas
We find rock layers that can be traced all the way across continents—even between continents—and physical features in those strata indicate they were deposited rapidly. For example, the Tapeats Sandstone and Redwall Limestone of Grand Canyon can be traced across the entire United States, up into Canada, and even across the Atlantic Ocean to England. The chalk beds of England (the white cliffs of Dover) can be traced across Europe into the Middle East and are also found in the Midwest of the United States and in Western Australia. Inclined (sloping) layers within the Coconino Sandstone of Grand Canyon are testimony to 10,000 cubic miles of sand being deposited by huge water currents within days.
Evidence 4: Sediment transported long distances
We find that the sediments in those widespread rapidly deposited rock layers had to be eroded from distant sources and carried long distances by fast-moving water. For example, the sand for the Coconino Sandstone of Grand Canyon (Arizona) had to be eroded and transported from the northern portion of what is now the United States and Canada. Furthermore, water current indicators (such as ripple marks) preserved in rock layers show that for “300 million years” water currents were consistently flowing from northeast to southwest across all of North and South America, which, of course, is only possible over weeks during a global Flood.
Evidence 5: Rapid or no erosion between strata
We find evidence of rapid erosion, or even of no erosion, between rock layers. Flat, knife-edge boundaries between rock layers indicate continuous deposition of one layer after another, with no time for erosion. For example, there is no evidence of any “missing” millions of years (of erosion) in the flat boundary between two well-known layers of Grand Canyon—the Coconino Sandstone and the Hermit Formation. Another impressive example of flat boundaries at Grand Canyon is the Redwall Limestone and the strata beneath it.
Evidence 6: Many strata laid down in rapid succession
Rocks do not normally bend; they break because they are hard and brittle. But in many places we find whole sequences of strata that were bent without fracturing, indicating that all the rock layers were rapidly deposited and folded while still wet and pliable before final hardening. For example, the Tapeats Sandstone in Grand Canyon is folded at a right angle (90°) without evidence of breaking. Yet this folding could only have occurred after the rest of the layers had been deposited, supposedly over “480 million years,” while the Tapeats Sandstone remained wet and pliable.
Evidence 7: Fast moving water
Fast moving water can erode away dirt, sand and even rock. When the water slows down, the dirt, sand and rock are dropped. This sediment may contain minerals that can be weathered away quickly. In the San Francisco area of California, beds of sediments hundreds of feet thick contain minerals that would have been destroyed if not buried quickly. Such beds can be seen in many other areas worldwide. These sediments could not have been laid down slowly over thousands of years otherwise the minerals would have been destroyed by weathering. Such beds tell us that a great quantity of water was involved and the sediment was deposited and buried quickly.
Evidence 8: Conglomerate
Stones that are rolled around by waves or currents become rounded and are called wash rock (also called conglomerate). Conglomerate beds are common all over the world. One bed in Alberta, Canada contains granite boulders of football size, that have been washed several hundred miles from the Rocky Mountains, the nearest source of this kind of rock. This bed is close to 100 feet thick and extends over several hundred square miles. Similar beds of even greater extent are present east of San Diego, California, along the Columbia River, in Washington and Oregon, on the east flank of the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming, in the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and along the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, Canada only to mention a few in North America. The northwest flanks of the Swiss Alps consist of mountains of uplifted conglomerate that have been washed off the Alps. In the past, great sheets of moving water dumped wash rock into thick layers that extend for hundreds of miles in all directions. No similar deposits of this extent are being produced in the world today.
Evidence 9: Redwall and other beds
Many beds, such as the Redwall of the Grand Canyon, can be traced for thousands of miles. The Redwall or its equivalent extends north all the way to Canada, east to Niagara Falls in New York, and south to Mammoth Caves in Kentucky. An equivalent is even found on the top of Mt. Everest, the world’s highest mountain. Also, evidence of such widespread water is thin bands of clay called tonsteins that appear in or between coal seams. Some of these one or two-inch laminations spread across thousands of square miles in Europe. Such massive and far-reaching beds require continent-wide, if not world-wide, flooding. The current direction indicators in the Redwall and similar beds show a generally East to West movement of water. Modern rivers and seas produce currents in various directions depending on the topography of the country. Coal is composed of buried plant material that has been subjected to heat, pressure and chemical action. Some coal beds can be very thick. In the United States and Canada, there are beds that are over 100 ft. thick. Some coal seams in Europe and Australia are several hundred feet thick. Geologists claim that coal is produced from buried marshes and peat bogs. Since it takes several feet of peat to be compressed into one foot of coal, seams of coal several hundred feet thick would require peat bogs over a thousand feet thick. No peat bogs of such depths are found in the modern world. Therefore such thick coal seams require conditions in the past that are not happening in the present world. Some coal seams in the eastern United States can be traced north and south for hundreds of miles. Such geographical extension and such thickness, require massive water movements on a very large scale. A world-wide flood as described in Genesis would be expected to lay down sediments over very broad geographical areas and that is what we see in the geological record.
Evidence 10: Decay rate of fish fossils
Fish fossils are common. Often the skeletal remains are preserved, that is, the bones have not been scattered. Experiments with fresh dead fish have shown that dead fish in water will disintegrate and their skeletons will fall apart in less than one week. The abundant remains of intact fossil fish skeletons indicate rapid burial sufficiently deep to prevent oxidation, bacterial decay, and breakage due to feeding by other animals. Fish that die in modern lakes or rivers usually completely decay and seldom leave any trace of themselves. One bed containing numerous fossil fish scales extends over several states in the Southwestern United States. Surprisingly very few fish bones are found in the same bed. This seems to indicate that scales sloughed off fish that were starting to decay and were swept away by water and buried well away from where the fish bones were buried. Only broad expanses of moving water could do this. In Brazil, fish fossils are found with the skin, muscles, organs, etc. all preserved. The fish look like they had just been caught but they are petrified and hard as stone. They are abundant and distributed over several thousand square miles. The large plateau where these fossils are found is well above sea level and a good 500 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Catastrophic conditions are required to create such an extensive assemblage of animals and plants so exquisitely preserved.
Evidence 11: Massive plant and animal graveyards
Massive graveyards of thousands and even millions of fish, dinosaurs, and mammals are seen in North America, Europe, and Africa. The same is true of plants. From Utah-Colorado north to Alberta-Saskatchewan, Canada, thousands of dinosaurs are found in certain beds such as the Morrison Formation. Dinosaur National Monument in Utah has a visitor’s display where numerous dinosaurs are exposed. Agate Fossil Beds National Monument is a good place to see numerous fossil mammals jumbled together. Other parts of the world also illustrate fossil graveyards. The city of Cincinnati, Ohio sits on top of a great mass of sea animals. The Messel site near Frankfort, Germany, is also a most unusual collection of animals and plants. These two sites along with others mentioned above reveal the following information: 1. The burial of great quantities of animals together. 2. Rapid burial and excellent preservation. 3. The presence of species now limited to different continents. 4. The position of mammals that suggest death by drowning. Geological processes as seen in the modern world cannot account for such unusual conditions. A worldwide catastrophe involving water is the easiest explanation.
Evidence 12: Widely diverse fossil mixtures
A factor that needs further consideration is the mixing of widely diverse animals from different geographical areas and habitats. In Germany, the Geiseltel lignite (soft coal) deposit, is a fantastic mixture of a great variety of animals and plants from insects to mammals and birds and from deciduous trees to fungi. The Santana Formation of Brazil mentioned above is a mixture of oceanic animals of various habitats. Open ocean fish, bottom-dwelling fish, freshwater fish, and sharks along with plants are all mixed together. The petrified forests of the Yellowstone area contain trees from a number of different environments (Figure 5). Species range from temperate (pines, redwoods, and willows) to tropical and exotic (figs, laurels, breadfruit, catsura, and cinnamon) and from semi-desert to rain forest types. If the study of fossil pollen from the conglomerate beds that contain the Yellowstone petrified trees are included, more than 200 species have been identified. How could such unusual mixtures be brought together and buried except by unusual catastrophic transport by water? A final example of unexpected fossil mixtures is seen in amber (petrified pitch). It is easy to understand how insects could be caught in sticky pitch and wind could blow pieces of leaves and even flowers into the pitch but how could sea animals such as coral be included? Waves or strong currents from the sea must have broken up and carried bits of coral that stuck to the pitch before it became hard or petrified.
Concluding Remarks
These are only a few of many examples from the study of the earth and its contained fossils that support a major world-wide flood. We can trust the Genesis record as a true account of an event in the past that affected the whole world. For further examination of this, click on the links contained in the study guide below.
Next Week – The continuation of the Origins series
STUDY GUIDE – WEEK THREE – Evidence of a Global Catastrophe
If Genesis is to be read as poetry or myth, then why are the dates and times given so specific in Genesis 7:11? (600 years, 2nd month, 17th day)
What information is given that tells how high the water got in Genesis 7:17-20?
Could Mt Everest have been covered by the flood if Mt Everest was in its current location during the flood?
What does this suggest about the flood then?
Listen to this audio clip of Ken Ham: (1 minute 32 seconds)
What happened to all the people and animals not on the ark – Genesis 7:21-23?
How many details does the Bible give us in Genesis 6-8 for determining how the flood actually occurred?
Considering the scant information on the mechanism for the flood, is it possible to have an exact answer for how it occurred?
If you want to read one proposal to explain the method the catastrophe could have used, read this article “Catastrophic Plate Tectonics: A Global Flood Model of Earth History” by Dr. Steve Austin, Dr. John Baumgardner, Dr. Russell Humphreys, Dr. Andrew A. Snelling, Dr. Larry Vardiman, and Kurt P. Wise.
If you are involving your kids in this study (and I hope you are) then this video on RightNow Media “AWESOME SCIENCE – EXPLORE GLACIER NATIONAL PARK” (41 Minutes, make popcorn and watch it together).
In this episode, Noah travels to northwestern Montana to explore the amazing sites and geology at Glacier National Park. He researches evidence for this area being created and eroded quickly by the effects of the global Flood. He’ll share why the Flood provided the right mechanisms to cause the Ice Age and how the end of the Ice Age provides the right conditions for the massive extinctions of mammals like the woolly mammoths.
Here is another interesting lecture on Sedimentology of the Flood by Dr. Kurt Wise: (90 Minutes)