Genesis 6:18-21 “But I will establish My covenant with you; and you shall go into the ark--you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. (19) And of every living thing of all flesh you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. (20) Of the birds after their kind, of animals after their kind, and of every creeping thing of the earth after its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. (21) And you shall take for yourself of all food that is eaten, and you shall gather it to yourself; and it shall be food for you and for them.”
The point is raised however, that God instructed Noah to gather food for all the animals in verse twenty one of the above quoted passage of scripture, for God told Noah to gather food for him and for “them”? The “them” God is referring to in this passage however, are not the animals but rather Noah’s sons, his wife and his son’s wives, which God mentions in verse eighteen. So if there was no need for food and water to be stored on the ark, what was all the extra space used for? For we have seen that almost 220,000 cubic meters of open space was available in the ark after taking all the animals onboard. The answer is simply ventilation. With 65,000 animals all breathing in a closed environment, there needed to be enough open space available to accommodate all of that carbon dioxide and ventilate with fresh oxygen.
So how did all the animals get to Noah in the first place? Some would have us to believe that Noah accomplished this aspect of the flood account completely in the natural; by going throughout the earth and trapping two from every species and then transporting all of them back to the ark. In the natural however, that would have been completely impossible for numerous reasons. One reason was because Noah had no access to far off continents such as Australia, North and South America, etc. Another reason was because Noah didn’t even know how many species there were or where to find them. Another reason is he would not have had the logistical facilities to transport vast numbers of animals from all points on the earth. Others would have us to believe that God got involved by causing the animals to migrate to Noah’s location over a period of time, for God did tell Noah that the animals would come to Noah (Genesis 6:20). That version is partly true, because God would have caused the animals within normal travelling distance to reach the ark under their own power. Animals on the other side of the earth however, would not have been able to migrate to Noah’s location because it would have taken some of them over 30 years to reach him and with an average lifespan of 10 years that would have meant that 3 generations would have passed before reaching their destination. Not to mention the lack of food and water for each species as they passed through habitats that were not supportive of that species. And then there is the fact that oceans separated many of the species from Noah’s location, thus making it impossible for them to reach him.
So how did God bring all the animals to Noah’s location? God did it all by using His supernatural power, partly as already mentioned, by causing the animals within normal travelling distance to reach the ark under their own power. With regards to the animals that were not within normal walking distance however, God supernaturally transported them in the Spirit. We have scriptural evidence of God using that method to transport His saints on numerous occasions, for example when He transported Philip from Gaza to Azotus (Acts 8:39-40), and when He transported Jesus and the disciples from the middle of the Sea of Galilee to the town of Capernaum (John 6:21). In the same manner God for example, transported Kangaroos from Australia and Polar Bears from the Arctic North Pole to Noah’s location and after the flood when they exited the ark, God would have also transported them back to Australia and the Arctic North Pole respectively.
So what about the flood itself? There are some who would suggest that the flood was not global but rather just a regional flood. The reason they do this because they can’t get their minds around the fact that the whole earth could be submersed under water. The argument is made that there is not enough water on the planet to completely submerge it in water. They forget however that there is strong scientific evidence that the earth started out completely submerged in water. And so, where did all that water go? Obviously it went into the subterranean regions of the earth. Those same people also ignore God’s covenantal rainbow that He placed in the earth after the flood (Genesis 9:12-16). They do this by stating that there had always been rain on the earth, even though God said otherwise (Genesis 2:5), and that therefore there had always been rainbows in the earth, again even though God has said otherwise (Genesis 9:13). The truth however, is that the flood was global. Natural man cannot believe that the water level could possibly have risen above Mount Everest for example. So is it possible for that to have happened? The average height of the earth’s exposed land mass is 841 meters[1]. The scripture says that by the end of 40 days of rain that the water was 15 cubits (7 meters) above the highest point of land. And so, in order for enough water to accumulate to that height, a consistent rainfall of 89 cm per hour for the full 40 days had to occur. That would have resulted in the earth’s water level rising to a height of 854 meters above sea level, thus covering all of the earth’s exposed land mass. The highest rainfall recorded by mankind in one hour was 40 cm in Shangdi, China on 3rd July 1975. And so, clearly in the natural, it could not have rained sufficiently over 40 days to cause the entire earth to be covered in water. Clearly the required volume of rain needed would have had to have been a supernatural event caused by the power of God. And so, God could have either added to the earth’s volume of water during the flood or He could have drawn out the excess needed from within the earth’s core, for the scripture does refer to the fountains of the great deep being broken up (Genesis 7:11). And after the flood, God could have removed any excess water through the supernatural wind that He caused to blow on the earth to make the waters subside.
So what about all the plant life? Would it not all be destroyed by being under water for a full year? The answer is yes, but the plant seeds would have been well able to lie dormant under the soil waiting for the flood waters to subside, thus springing forth into new growth. And so we see that the flood account of the whole earth being submerged in water is very real.
Michael E.B. Maher
[1] Wikipedia
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