Creation Basics: Was Noah’s Flood Local or Global?

Genesis is very clear that it was a global flood.

Well, it’s not because of what the Bible says—Genesis is very clear (as we will see in a moment) that it was a global flood. The idea of a local flood actually comes from starting with the words of evolutionary scientists and interpreting the Bible through that lens. The local flood idea in our time came out of naturalism, which is atheism, of the nineteenth century.

You see, evolutionary scientists believe the earth is millions of years old, largely because of the rock layers (this interpretation of the rock layers is where the idea of millions of years originated in Western “scientific” thought). But if there was a global flood, those rock layers would’ve all been ripped up, basically erasing the “evidence” of long ages! So evolutionists can’t have a global flood. So, really, Christians who say Noah’s flood was local are believing man’s ideas over God’s clear Word.

And God’s Word is clear about the extent of the flood! Consider that:

• Over and over, Genesis 6–8 uses words like “all” and “every”—such as “all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered” (Genesis 7:19) and “all flesh died” (Genesis 7:21). Now, that doesn’t sound like a small, localized event! The words are overwhelmingly universal—almost as if God was emphasizing over and over, yes, this was really a global event!
• Noah’s ark was huge. At 510 feet long, 51 feet high, and 85 feet wide, the ark was a massive ship designed to hold two of every kind of land animal, supplies for a whole year, and Noah and his family. Now, why would Noah need such a huge ark if the flood was just local? He and his family could’ve just packed up and left the area. And animals (and people!) outside the flood zone would’ve survived (which contradicts the biblical text), so why did two of every kind need to come to the ark?
• After the flood, God said that the rainbow in the sky was to be understood as his promise that he would never again send another flood to “destroy the earth” like this one. But if Noah’s flood was just a local event . . . well, God lied. There’ve been many devastating local floods since the flood of Noah’s day. So what did God mean by saying he’d never again send another flood? It makes no sense!
• Jesus compared his second coming to Noah’s flood. Jesus’ return isn’t going to be a localized event—it will be global, just as the flood was! And the Apostle Peter wrote in his second epistle that only eight people survived the flood. If the flood was a local event, people outside the area would’ve escaped and the Bible would be wrong.

The only reason some Christians say Noah’s flood was local is because of the belief in “millions of years” of history.

Instead of compromising God’s Word and interpreting the text through the lens of man’s ideas about the past, let’s start with God’s Word. Yes, there really was a global flood—we can trust God’s Word.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks for praying,
Ken

This item was written with the assistance of AiG’s research team.