The Flood

[skyblue888]

In the report of the flood God has given us sufficient evidence in various parts of the Bible to establish the way in which the flood did come. The study of this great cataclysm will be taken up from this angle.

When it is seen what caused the flood and how it came, powerful confirmation will be given to the truth that God does not execute the sinner nor destroy the earth. Far from actually sending the flood, God held it back as long as He could. It finally came because He could no longer prevent it without forcing His presence where it was no longer desired.

sky

[skyblue888]

Conditions before the flood were radically different from what they have been since. The key to that difference lies in the state of the sun and moon, the former having been seven times as hot as it now is and the latter having been equal to our present sun. This meant that eight times today's heat and light was being beamed upon the earth before the flood.

The scriptural evidence is found in Isaiah 30:26.

"Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His people, and healeth the stroke of their wound."

This is both a prophecy of the future and a descrïption of the past. God is telling what He will do when He will bind up "the breach of His people," and will heal "the stroke of their wound." This is restoration, the bringing back of that which was already there. If this involves increasing the sun to seven times its present intensity and the moon to equal the present sun, then this is how it was before the flood.

It will be when the Creator makes a new heaven and earth, that this restoration will be achieved. At that time, the sun and moon combined will be transmitting eight times and light now being produced.

With these two orbs of fire jointly serving the new heavens and new earth, a vastly changed condition of things will prevail from what they are now. This would appear so drastic as to cause many to think that the scripture predicting this has to be understood only figuratively. The words are to be understood literally however, as the following statement verifies:

"All will be a happy, united family, clothed with the garments of praise and thanksgiving--the robe of Christ's righteousness. All nature in its surpassing loveliness will offer to God a constant tribute of praise and adoration. The world will be bathed in the light of Heaven. The years will move on in gladness. The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold greater than it is now. Over the scene the morning stars will sing together, and the sons of God will shout for joy, while God and Christ will unite in proclaiming, 'There shall be no more sin, neither shall there be any more death.' E.G. White, My Life Today,348. See also Ministry of Healing,506 or Testimonies, Vol.8, 42 or The Review and Herald, Nov.6,1903.

This statement does verify that Isaiah 30:26 is truly a prophecy of the future and a descrïption of the past.

to be continued

sky

[skyblue888]

"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." Genesis 1:6-8.

Thus in God's creative organization, He left some water upon the earth, but the remainder, He stationed high above and completely around the world. In between there was an atmospheric heaven. Thus a deep, protective, insulating mantle of water vapor cocooned the earth. The height and thickness of this was precisely calculated by the Creator to produce the perfect climate upon earth.

Having positioned the water vapor, the Lord then commissioned the sun and moon to hold it there, as well as to give light to the earth.

"And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night."

The sun and the moon were not established in their appointed orbits to give only light to the earth. The scrïpture clearly testifies that they were to "give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness."

The purpose of giving light to the earth is easily understood, but more study needs to be given to the meaning of the phrase, "to rule over the day and over the night." "To rule," is to govern, to exercise a controlling influence of some nature on the other. In the light of scrïpture evidences revealing the physical conditions existing at the time of creation, something of the nature of this rulership becomes apparent.

The sun and moon shared a responsibility beyond that of lighting the earth. An enormous amount of water had been elevated above the globe where it rode in suspension to form a complete mantle. To hold it there required a considerable supply of heat without which the pull of gravity would draw it down again. The sun and moon were placed in command of this situation. They were to rule over the moisture mantle, wrapped like swaddling clothes around the planet, preventing it from returning to the surface again and causing complete flooding. In order to have sufficient heat energy to accomplish this important task, the moon had to be as hot as the sun now is and the sun seven times moreso.

The arrangement was a masterpiece of balanced technology. The amount of heat produced from the two suns was calculated to keep just the correct volume of water vapor at the optimum altitude. The percentage of heat energy absorbed in this process left sufficient over to filter through, providing the needed heat to warm the earth. But, effective as the water mantle was in absorbing the greatest part of the sun's energy, and thus protecting the world below from its searing blast, God's purpose for it did not end there. It served to conserve, distribute, and equalize the warmth reaching the surface.

to be continued

[Igakusei]

Uh...

[ClubV12]

,,,man this is a real cliff hanger, I can't wait for the next episode! Good stuff. :)

[skyblue888]

a "cliff-hanger",,,

"In the days of Noah a double curse was resting upon the earth in consequence of Adam's transgression and of the murder committed by Cain. Yet this had not greatly changed the face of nature. There were evident tokens of decay, but the earth was still rich and beautiful in the gifts of God's providence. The hills were crowned with majestic trees supporting the fruit-laden branches of the vine. The vast, gardenlike plains were clothed with verdure, and sweet with the fragrance of a thousand flowers. The fruits of the earth were in great variety, and almost without limit. The trees far surpassed in size, beauty, and perfect proportion any now to be found; their wood was of fine grain and hard substance, closely resembling stone, and hardly less enduring. Gold, silver, and precious stones existed in abundance." P.P.90.

The great, scientific minds of that day could prove mathematically that no rain was possible because of the continued generation of heat by the sun during the day and the moon by night. They also boldly declared, as scientists do today, that the sun would continue its radiation of heat energy for millions of years yet. Like the Pharaoh as yet unborn, they had lost sight of the essential knowledge that nature is not self-acting but requires the continued presence, control, and sustenance of God.

"The laws of nature are not self-acting. Nature in her work testifies of the intelligent presence and active agency of a Being who moves in all things according to His will." M.H.416.

"The world before the Flood reasoned that for centuries the laws of nature had been fixed. The recurring seasons had come in their order. Heretofore rain had never fallen; the earth had been watered by a mist or dew. The rivers had never yet passed their boundaries, but had borne their waters safely to the sea. Fixed decrees had kept the waters from overflowing their banks. But these reasoners did not recognize the hand of Him who had stayed the waters, saying, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further." Job 38:11.

"As time passed on, with no apparent change in nature, men whose hearts had at times trembled with fear, began to be reassured. They reasoned, as many reason now, that nature is above the God of nature, and that her laws are so firmly established that God Himself could not change them. Reasoning that if the message of Noah were correct, nature would be turned out of her course, they made that message, in the minds of the world, a delusion--a grand deception. They manifested their contempt for the warning of God by doing just as they had done before the warning was given. They continued their festivities and their gluttonous feasts; they ate and drank, planted and builded, laying their plans in reference to advantages they hoped to gain in the future; and they went to greater lengths in wickedness, and in defiant disregard of God's requirements, to testify that they had no fear of the Infinite One. They asserted that if there were any truth in what Noah had said, the men of renown--the wise, the prudent, the great men--would understand the matter." P.P.96,97

For the first time ever, rain fell, beginning its torrential and incessant downpour seven days after the closing of the door. Thus the change came suddenly. Up to a certain day, it had never rained. With the advent of that day, it rained, not gently and then increasingly, but in an absolute deluge.

The water literally dropped out of the sky. At the same time, mighty underground supplies burst forth out of all control.

But this change could not occur unless firstly, changes had taken place in the sun and moon. There is only one way in which rain can come. Suspended water vapor must cool down to condensation point. There was only one way for the water vapor in suspension above the earth to be chilled and that was for the moon and sun to begin to wane in heat production. This they did. The moon went out altogether and the sun faded to one seventh of its former brightness.

Suddenly, the vast volume of water vapor up there found itself deprived of seven-eighths of the heat it had been receiving. Rapidly the heat energy was exhausted in the work of keeping the vapor suspended. Chilling followed. Then came condensation. Practically all the water that had been taken from earth to sky by God's direct power on the second day of creation, was returned through natural causes during those forty days and nights.

So great is the power of God that He could speak into position a volume of water which took forty days and nights to return by its own power. The result was that for the second time the earth became completely flooded with water. Not a trace of dry land showed anywhere.

to be continued

[skyblue888]

The first appearance of rain in Noah's day is positive proof that it was then that the extinguishing of the moon and the dimming of the sun took place. Confirmation of this is provided by both Isaiah and Peter. The evidence from Isaiah has already been quoted. Here it is again:

"Morever the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His people, and healeth the stroke of their wound." Isaiah 30:26.

This text supplies the proof that the sun was reduced in brightness and the moon went out at the time of the flood, for, the promise that the sun and the moon will be restored will be fulfilled.

A healing is the restoring to an original condition. If, in this healing work, the sun and moon are to be brought back to what they were, then it had to be at the making of the breach and the wounding that the sun and moon suffered their reductions. So it is only necessary to determine when the breach was made and the stroke administered, to know when the sun and moon were depleted of their powers.

There is only one point of time when a great stroke was delivered against mankind which produced a terrible breach on human population and that was at the flood. So great was the stroke and the resulting breach in the human family that total extermination almost resulted. God has promised to restore that which was lost but not those who were lost.

There have been many minor stokes made against humanity, but none of these compare with the great flood and the damage it caused. The time is coming though, when that will be restored. The sun will come back to seven times its brightness and the moon will become as bright as the sun is today, thus re-establishing the earth to its pre-flood state.

What caused the sun and the moon to lose their powers is a question yet to be determined, but the answer will come as we proceed. Firstly, some considerations must be given to New Testament evidences that great changes did take place at the flood.

to be continued

[phkrause]

Excellent posts sky

[shelly]

Interesting theory. Not biblical, but interesting.

[ClubV12]

No rainbows before the flood, only after, I've wondered how that came about....

[skyblue888]

Thanks pkrause. ClubV12, interesting theory!!! Please keep on reading.

In the Old Testament it is Isaiah who provides the information that there was a great change at the time of the flood. In the New Testament it is Peter. In fact the latter writer is even more specific in that he names the flood as the great point of change.

"For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. 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." 2 Peter 3:3-7.

In these words, Peter divides history into two periods--antediluvian and post-diluvian. When referring to the world after that catastrophe, he speaks of "the heavens and the earth, which are now."

He does not speak only of the earth which is now, as being different from what was before, he also includes the heavens in the change. The heavens which changed at the time of the flood were those governed by the sun and the moon of this solar system.

Before the flood, the sun was seven times brighter and the moon was as bright as the sun. The sun ruled the day and the moon the night. There was a wonderful mantle of protective vapour around the earth and the climate from pole to pole was of pleasant, even temperatures. It never rained but a gentle mist rose each morning to water the earth. Storms, tidal waves, earthquakes, blizzards, hurricanes, and hail storms were completely unknown. That was the heavens and the earth which then were.

But how different are the heavens and the earth which now are. The sun is dimmed to one seventh. The moon has gone out. The mantle of protection is not there. Wide diversity of climate covers the earth. Fierce storms, terrible earthquakes, destructive blizzards, pulverizing hailstorms, and a thousand other scourges blast the earth.

These are the great changes of which the wise men of today are ignorant, and willfully so. It is not that they do not believe in the flood, for many of them do, but the deluge is seen as if it were the same disasters which occur today on a lesser scale. They see the heavens and the earth before the flood as being essentially the same as the heavens and the earth after the flood. There simply came the time when an abnormally wet season flooded the entire earth. When the flood ended, as all floods do, the earth generally returned to the same situation as before. This is the thinking of those who do recognize the flood, but fail to acknowledge the real changes which took place there.

We see from a more thorough and careful study of the scriptures that the changes were much more far-reaching than that. It is needful that their full extent be understood, together with the causes, namely, the dimming of the sun and the extinguishing of the moon.

to be continued

[ClubV12]

"I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth."

I suppose there could have been rainbows before the flood. They don't require rain, just water droplets or moisture and the right light conditions. Perhaps God declard them a "token" after the flood, even though they always existed?

But I suspect, rainbows did not exist in nature at all before the flood and the changed atmosphere then made them possible afterward. Hence the phrase, "I do set my bow in the cloud...", suggests to me it was something new, never before seen.

[skyblue888]

When Noah emerged from the ark, God made a special promise and prophecy to him that there never would be a flood upon the earth again. That promise is repeated in Isaiah. "Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended." Isaiah 60:20.

Usually we refer to the sun or the moon "going down" when they appear to sink below the western horizon, but this is an erroneous expression, for neither the sun nor the moon go down in relation to the earth. They only appear to. The disappearance of these heavenly bodies behind the western mountains or plains is caused by the rotation of the earth on its axis so that as the earth turns we are the ones who "go down"--not the sun and moon.

Because of its scientific inaccuracy this understanding of the expression "go down," as used in the Scrïpture under consideration, must be highly suspect. That it is not the correct interpretation is made evident by certain facts revealed in the Word of God.

The first creation was perfect and the second will be a reproduction of it. There can be no differences between the second and the first because perfection cannot be improved; any modification being an admission that the first was imperfect and thus required improvement.

In the first creation, there was day and night occasioned by what we term the "going down" of the sun. If the promise of Isaiah 60:20 provided that the sun would never set in the western sky, then there would be no day and night as in the original, perfect creation. Some may point to the reference in Revelation 22:5, "And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever," and claim this teaches that there will not even be a sun in the new earth, for it will not be needed.

However, we are confident that most will recognize that this Scripture is not describing conditions in the new earth generally but as they will be in the New Jerusalem. Even then it does not say there will be no sun, but only that there will be no need of it for there will be the greater light streaming from the presence of God. So far as the rest of the earth is concerned it will have, as promised in Isaiah 30:26, a blazing sun and a brilliant moon. The earth will still rotate on its axis and each evening the sun will appear to "go down" behind the western horizon as it does today.

Furthermore, why would the Lord make a special promise that the sun would never go down again behind the western horizon each evening when such an event was no trouble or problem? It is a perfectly normal and desirable occurrence, introducing the blessings of the night. Therefore, if this is all the Lord was offering in that Scripture, it could hardly be regarded as a precious promise.

The promise is made in respect to the new earth dwellers who will again be enjoying perfect climatic conditions. They will know what happened when the sun went down in intensity and the moon withdrew itself in the days of Noah. To them, the promise that this will not happen again is a very valuable and precious one for by this means they are assured that never again will their beautiful home be flooded to destruction.

The guarantee offered in this Scripture is not merely that it will never happen, but that it will happen "no more." "Thy sun will no more go down..." If it is to happen no more, then it must have happened already. The only occasion it could have been was when the dimming of the sun and the extinguishing of the moon brought the deluge. Therefore, this verse along with Isaiah 30:26 and 2 Peter 3:3-7, is directly referring to the great changes which occurred in both the earth and the heavens when the sun went down in intensity and the moon withdrew itself. Consequently, the world "that then was," was very different from the "heavens and the earth, which now are."

to be continued

[skyblue888]

"I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth."

I suppose there could have been rainbows before the flood. They don't require rain, just water droplets or moisture and the right light conditions. Perhaps God declard them a "token" after the flood, even though they always existed?

But I suspect, rainbows did not exist in nature at all before the flood and the changed atmosphere then made them possible afterward. Hence the phrase, "I do set my bow in the cloud...", suggests to me it was something new, never before seen.

But I suspect, rainbows did not exist in nature at all before the flood and the changed atmosphere then made them possible afterward. Hence the phrase, "I do set my bow in the cloud...", suggests to me it was something new, never before

____________________

Yup, exactly!

sky

[skyblue888]

It is the utter failure by modern scientists to understand the full extent of these changes which has led them into erroneous conclusions in all matters of dating extending beyond historical records. While the earth is, in fact, six thousand years of age, they date it in the hundreds of millions of years.

Great excitement was experienced during the nineteen-forties when the radiocarbon method of dating was developed. Careful testing of the procedure with materials of known age proved its accuracy. Thus, the dating of materials of otherwise undetermined age was undertaken and, to the delight of the scientists, the readout agreed with established postulations of the age of the earth and life upon it. Whereas the Biblical record allows for only about six thousand years, they confirmed figures running into millions.

At the time, faithful Bible students were perplexed to some extent by this, for the evolutionists fell that they had a sure upper-hand in the everlasting debate on the age of the earth. There seemed a real possibility that the Bible, after all, could be proved to be in error. But those who understood, even back there, the full extent of the changes which did take place at the flood, recognized immediately the defect in their calibrations. The relaying of this information to the perplexed among God's people quickly set their minds at rest.

There is a continual bombardment of this earth by cosmic rays from outer space. These, interacting with the nitrogen in the atmosphere cause all living organisms to absorb radiocarbon 14. This continues until the death of the living thing, be it plant, animal, or human. Thereafter the radiocarbon 14 breaks down at an accurately known rate. To determine how long since death took place, the residual radiocarbon in the specimen is measured.

When samples were tested, there was found to be a complete absence of any radiocarbon 14. Complete disintegration of the radiocarbon material had taken place. Knowing that this could happen only over an exceedingly long period of time, they dated the coal, for example, as being many hundreds of thousands of years old.

In doing so they did the very thing God, through Peter, foretold they would do. They denied that there had ever been a great change in the heavens and the earth and worked on the assumption that "... all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation." 2 Peter 3:4.

Had they understood that the earth was mantled by that protective water vapor, they would have known that before the flood, cosmic rays could never have penetrated into our atmosphere as they do today. Plants and animals did not absorb any radiocarbon 14 before the flood because the band of moisture filtered the rays out before they ever reached the nitrogen in the earth's atmosphere. Therefore, scientists found no radiocarbon in the coal, not because it had all disintegrated, but because it was never there originally. Thus the radiocarbon clock, far from denying the truth of the Bible, actually serves to confirm it.

Had the heavens and the earth been the same before the flood as they are now, with no better protection from cosmic ray penetration, then the trees would have absorbed it as they do today. When buried by the flood, the breakdown would have proceeded and the measuring instruments today would have shown the coal to be a little less than five thousand years old. We know how old the coal is without the help of a radiocarbon clock. We have the Word of God and from its utterly reliable source we know that the flood occurred about four thousand, four hundred years ago.

If the scientists were to allow for the great changes made in the heavens and the earth at the Flood, they would also make allowances for their dating techniques and would not propose such astronomical figures for the age of the earth.

to be continued

[skyblue888]

Some may question the effectiveness of the moisture mantle in screening out the cosmic radiation, but the fact is that even the limited presence of moisture and atmosphere around our earth today, is a protection from this problem. When jets traverse the oceans at altitudes which practically take them out of this earth's atmosphere, it is necessary to keep a continual watch on solar flares. Should these break out while they are in flight, they must immediately return to a lower altitude to place atmosphere between themselves and open space so as to obtain protection from this radiation.

This clearly shows how completely the protective mantle before the flood would screen out all these radiations from outer space. Therefore, any fossils of things living before the flood will always give a zero readout so far as radioactive carbon content is concerned. This is proof, not that they are so old that there has been a complete decay of this material, but that it was never there in the first place in order to break down. Its absence confirms the vastly different conditions existing in the heavens and the earth prior to the deluge.

Thus the Word of God offers us a great deal of information about conditions as they were before the flood, the forces which maintained those conditions, and the changes in those forces which produced the flood. This information is of tremendous value in searching out the specific role the Lord played in that fearful "stroke of their wound" which made such an enormous "breach" upon the people.

The revelation of the scientific causes of the flood is a strong confirmation of the truth that God did not stand toward the antediluvians as an executioner of the sentence against transgression, but that the catastrophes which destroy mankind are the outworking of natural forces no longer under God's control and supervision.

to be continued

[skyblue888]

God will never force His presence where it is not desired, and every power in nature is directly and continually dependent on God's power to keep it on station fulfilling its appointed task. Therefore, in the era leading up to the deluge, the sun and the moon, which were critical factors in the coming of the flood, were dependent on the presence of God's power to keep them burning at exactly the correct heat level and stationed at the proper distance from the earth. Let the Lord's Spirit be removed from the control and direction of those two orbs of fire, and the flood had to follow.

Under Satan's determined and relentless influence, men increasingly desired total separation from God. They wanted nothing of His ways or principles. God, knowing the dreadful consequences of such a course, sent message after message pleading with them to correct their drift, but they steadily insisted on His departure. Because He will never force His presence where it is not desired, He had no choice but to depart. In doing so, He gave them what they wanted, the control of the heavens and the earth. The moon, being nearer to the earth, was the first to feel the effect of God's departure. It went out entirely. The sun, much further away from men and much larger than the moon, took longer to diminish completely. Before it could do so, the wicked had perished and suddenly the situation was reversed. Whereas the majority had been against God, now the changed situation placed the majority on His side. They were only eight in number but still the majority.

These, of course, desired the Lord to fill His office and do His work of sustaining the powers of heaven and earth. Thus the returning Spirit of God was able to arrest any further decay in the sun and maintain it at the diminished level. It has remained that way ever since.

to be continued

[skyblue888]

Neither man nor Satan can justly charge God with the damages the Flood caused. It was not His direct act by which the moon was extinguished and the sun dimmed. He labored unceasingly to save man from stepping so far out of the ways of righteousness as to compel His retirement from control. If His efforts had been successful, there never would have been a flood. It came, not because God sent it, but because He could not stop it. Those who believe that there are two sides to the character of God--the loving side and "His strange act"--see the flood coming as a result of God's changing from the former to the latter. The real truth is that the flood proved inevitable, not because God changed His tactics, but because He remained undeviatingly the same. With Him, the use of force had ever been excluded. Therefore, to have prevented the flood once His final appeals had been rejected would have required Him to change to forcing His presence where it was emphatically not desired. This He could not do, thus leaving nothing to prevent the onset of disaster.

Satan and men had applied the greatest possible pressure upon God to force Him into changing His ways and introducing the weapons of force into His arsenal. But they failed. God had foreseen it from the beginning and simply went composedly on His way as the crisis developed, knowing that His principles would stand the test. They did.

sky

"God's great and strange work is to redeem and save and thus repair the ruin that sin has made." E.G. White, 3 RH 583.

"The work of destruction is a strange work to Him who is infinite in love." P.P.139.

This statement is often quoted as proof that God destroys but the statement is not saying that God's strange work is to destroy but that the work of destruction is a strange act to Him who is infinite in love.

"Satan is the destroyer." 6 T 388.

[skyblue888]

The Biblical evidences gathered so far, confirm the scientific nature of the flood. The perfect arrangement of balanced heat supply and protective mantle producing a mild and equalized climate over the earth, was critically dependent on the uniform production of heat from the sun and the moon. When that failed, the flood was inevitable.

The question now remaining is why the sun came to be dimmed and the moon extinguished. This problem solved, there will remain no difficulties in connection with God's character as it was manifested in that catastrophe. If the dimming and the extinguishing of those two bodies was God's deliberate act performed at a moment dictated by Him, then God certainly was an executioner of the sentence against transgression. He did not leave the rejecters of His mercy to themselves to reap that which they had sown. He was a destroyer. Undeniably, He departed from His stated principles and resorted to measures foreign to Him and His kingdom prior to the entrance of sin.

This is, of course, the view generally adopted, together with its implications which, unfortunately, are rarely considered. If men did but contemplate the full import of what they believe, they would heartily reject many errors.

Strengthening the tendency to adopt this position, is the awareness that God has full power to extinguish the moon and dim the sun, easily and instantly. There is no possibility, need, or intention of denying this. God is possessed of infinite power. Just as by commanding and it was done, God placed those blazing orbs in the day and nighttime sky, so He could as readily put them out again. There is no contention over God's ability to be the executioner. He possessed all the power necessary and much more besides. It required Him only to speak and it would be done, to command and it would be destroyed.

The controversy is over whether He, who was in possession of such power, would use it in this way. Those who have grasped the principles of God's dealing with men, which are ever the same, will understand that while God has the power to do it, He did not, because He is bound by immutable principles of righteousness not to use His might in that way. All such will praise the excellence of character which, equipped with infinite might while pressed under the severest provocation, does not retaliate. That is righteousness at its beautiful best.

to be continued

[skyblue888]

The story of the flood is very significant and important in order to understand God's character.

Many years ago the Sabbath School Lesson took the students back to the beginning of the great controversy in Heaven. With fascinated interest, we studied the rise of sin in Lucifer, his opposition to God, His government and law, and the divine response to this terrible spirit of rebellion.

From the outset, it became increasingly and sharply clear that the struggle was not a contest instituted to prove who was physically stronger, for there could be no doubt of God's infinite superiority in this field. Neither Lucifer nor any other creature challenged this. Furthermore, had that been the issue then God could have resolved it with one overwhelming demonstration of His almighty power. It would not have been necessary to wait for almost two thousand years and then bring the flood to prove that He was physically stronger than Satan and his hosts.

We came to understand that the contest was over the respective merits of two opposing and irreconcilable systems of government, the one long established by God versus that newly espoused by Satan. God declared that His system was perfect, needed no modifications or improvements, and guaranteed for those who faithfully respected it, the permanence of eternal life, prosperity, and advancement. Satan counter-claimed that the divine order was not all it pretended to be, a point having been reached where it had ended its effective reign.

Far from being a system designed for the universal good of all, he charged, it was a master plot formulated for the special exaltation of the Father and the Son. Because of this, he insinuated, an oppressive era was about to be introduced which would increase in severity as eternity dragged on. While he admitted that up till that time conditions could not have been better, he declared that the future would certainly reveal the defects in the divine system. He agitated that it was imperative that every member of the angelic hosts stand up for themselves before they were so circumscribed by bondage that they would be powerless to assert their rights.

Satan's attack was upon the principles of God's character and thus of His government. The question was whether the established ways of God's government could emerge impeccably from subjection to the most searching test Satan could give it, or whether defects would become evident.

God was confident that it could emerge immaculate and therefore, had no hesitation in submitting it to the ultimate test. Let the devil attack and counter-attack! Let him use all the weapons of force and deception! God knew that His system would come through vindicated and perfect.

So God entered into the great controversy for which this earth and its people became the testing ground, the arena, the theatre. It is important that we recognize the critical importance of understanding what was under test, what was at stake, and the limitations placed upon God by His own acceptance of this challenge. God did not permit the testing of His system of government to preserve His personal honour and word, for God is not self-centered. He did it for the salvation of the creatures in His universe.

to be continued

[onlyhumanme]

I have the same understanding on the flood or very similar,love it!.

[james423]

Very interesting idea that seems to fit in with what my college chemistry teachers taught us about dating objects.

[fccool]

Quote:

the former having been seven times as hot as it now is and the latter having been equal to our present sun.

It's a wild guess, but I don't think you've been paying a lot attention in your science classes.

[ClubV12]

Science, falsely so called. "Best guess" based on data they (scientists) don't fully understand.

[hch]

The revelation of the scientific causes of the flood is a strong confirmation of the truth that God did not stand toward the antediluvians as an executioner of the sentence against transgression, but that the catastrophes which destroy mankind are the outworking of natural forces no longer under God's control and supervision.

to be continued

The evidence also shows that a meteorite hit the earth to form a portion of the Gulf of Mexico, which could explain the breaking up of the fountains of the deep.

Most of these postings are quite good thus far. But I will be to the point without ill will or criticizim intended.

Re: "the outworking of natural forces no longer under God's control and supervision" Poor wording. There is nothing that is out of God's control. But does God allow the consequences of things set in motion.

This conclusion is unfounded: "God did not stand toward the antediluvians as an executioner of the sentence against transgression" is clearly your own private interpretation.

If you are going to go with the Scriptures, to make your case, then you have to stay with the Scriptures and leave your private interpretations out of it.

Ge 6:6 And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Ge 6:7 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 the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

The destruction of the antediluvians was an act of God. Just like the 7 last plagues will be God's wrath poured out on a planet in rebellion using the forces that man has set in motion.