If The Great Flood Was Local, Why Did God Say…

Answer: Thank you for the question Glenn.

In the great debate over a global or local flood, many Christians forget to ask themselves, why was there a flood to begin with? If we read Genesis 6, there were Angels that left Heaven, becoming Fallen Angels, and they mingled with women, having children who were Giants.

That kicks off the entire flood narrative, but this is often overlooked.

Interestingly enough, once that occurs, look what Genesis 6:5 records.

“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.”

So what caused this excessivly great wickedness?

To a large degree, the Fallen Angels and their Giant children.

Did it occur all over the globe or just in the land where Noah lived?

I contend with the latter thought, as that’s the subject.

The entire world was never the subject.

How can I say that?

Ask yourself, what was the subject of Genesis 5?

The genealogy of Adam.

From Genesis 5-6:2, we’re told about Adam’s family, his descendants. We’re told about Adam’s “daughters,” and that’s the women the Fallen Angels “took them wives of all which they chose.” Women around the world were never the subject, the subject was the descendants of Adam and that brought us to Noah.

Now, let’s read the verse you asked about.

A Flood To Destroy The Earth

Genesis 9:11
And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.

I’m sure your thoughts are, God said He would not send another flood to kill “all flesh.”

Right?

However, we need context, the whole flood narrative needs context.

You see, the word “earth” is the Hebrew word “‘erets” which means,

The earth (at large, or partitively a land), country, field, ground, land, X nations, way wilderness, world.

As you can see, the word “‘erets” has numerous meanings, and it doesn’t always mean “the entire earth.” In fact, this Hebrew word was translated as “land” 1,300 times in the Bible, while it was translated as “earth” just 600 times. Then remember, “God called the dry land Earth,” (Genesis 1:10).

This should stop all of us in our tracks as it drastically changes the entire context of the flood account.

Now, if we choose to ignore what I just proved, then Scripture said, ‘a flood destroyed the earth.’

Yet, we know that’s not true.

The earth was not “destroyed.”

The earth is still here, you and I are living on it.

So when we start taking Scripture too literal, without having the complete story, it leads to incorrect conclusions. In reality, God simply said, “all flesh” in the “land” would never be “cut off” again by a flood at His hand.

That’s it.

All right, let’s discuss the second verse you mentioned.

A Flood Upon The World Of The Ungodly

2 Peter 2:5
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;

Peter did not say the entire world was destroyed.

Peter was very specific, the flood was unleashed on the “world of the ungodly.”

That’s a figure of speech.

Look, today we live in “ungodly world,” but that doesn’t make “the entire” world ungodly. At least you, me, and my readers are good folks. I don’t know about everyone else though. I jest.

So then, Peter is saying, their realm, their world, the region where the ungodly lived was flooded.

God destroyed all the ungodly people that lived in the land where Noah dwelt. God’s ultimate goal was to destroy the Giants and all of the ungodly people in the region.

The Heavens And The Earth, Which Are Now

As for 2 Peter 3:3-7, those verses do not refer to Noah’s Flood.

What was the subject of 2 Peter 3:3?

“The beginning of the creation.”

Not Noah’s Flood.

• In 2 Peter 3:5 we read, “the earth standing out of the water and in the water” which is a reference to Genesis 1:6, 9 and Psalms 24:2. That’s the second day of Genesis, not Noah’s Flood.
• In 2 Peter 3:6, the verse concerns the destruction of “the world that then was.”

That’s not Noah’s Flood.

Noah’s Flood did not destroy the world, but it did destroy the wicked.

Look what 2 Peter 3:7 tells us,

2 Peter 3:7
But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Look, the earth and heavens couldn’t have been destroyed by Noah’s Flood, that’s impossible. So we are talking about a different era of time. Hey, everyone always wants to know when Satan rebelled against God, well, there you go, in “the world that then was.”

Nevertheless, the heavens and earth that we occupy today will be destroyed by fire.

If you’d like to learn more and completely reassess this topic Glenn, then I invite you to read my topic, The Flood. I have an entire series on Noah’s Flood.