Noah’s Flood Part 3: Ice Age
Jesus was instructing his disciples concerning his second coming, and Luke records his words in chapter 17 verse 26 and 27, “And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all.”
We are looking at the story of The Flood during Noah’s time and connecting the dots to see what relevance it has for our day and age. Let’s take a look at Genesis 6:3. “And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” At first glance, it appears that God will drastically reduce the number of years of man’s life on earth after the flood, “his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” However, when we take a closer look at the calling of Noah and his work to do in preparation for the flood, we see a specific time frame God gave in warning.
Patriarchs and Prophets page 92, “Amid the prevailing corruption, Methuselah, Noah, and many others labored to keep alive the knowledge of the true God and to stay the tide of moral evil. A hundred and twenty years before the Flood, the Lord by a holy angel declared to Noah His purpose, and directed him to build an ark.” So we see the calling to build the ark 120 years in advance of the flood, but that is not the only work that Noah was to engage in while building. Ellen White continues, “While building the ark he was to preach that God would bring a flood of water upon the earth to destroy the wicked. Those who would believe the message, and would prepare for that event by repentance and reformation, should find pardon and be saved.” Wow! Anyone and everyone within hearing distance of Noah was offered salvation from the flood. And building the ark of that proportion would have garnered the largest crowds the world had seen up to that time.
The God of heaven is offering pardon and salvation now. When the door of the ark closes, can you get in? No, it has been shut. Probation will come soon, so today is the day of salvation. How many of you will choose the Lord's way today? Many people are still on the fence when it comes to surrendering to the Lord. We may not have 120 years!
In December of 2019, a young Chinese doctor in Wuhan China discovered a strange but dangerous virus. He tried to warn his fellow colleagues of something potentially disastrous. A few days later, police knocked on the door of his home and threatened him and his family if he would not shut his mouth. After contracting covid-19 from treating his patients, Dr. Li died on February 7, 2020. He was 34 years old.
Will you be like Noah, and warn others of the coming storm? Will you be like Dr. Li, and warn others, willing to give up your life if needed, and help others survive the coming storm? Or will you go on with your life, as if Jesus is not coming soon?
How long did Noah, his family, and don't forget all the animals, have to stay in the ark before they were let out? They could not open the door from the inside; it was one of those child safety doors which only the angel of Lord could open.
In Genesis chapter 7, we see that after Noah, family and animals all enter the ark, the door is shut by the angel, and then seven long, dry and sunny days go by. That was the 600th year of Noah’s life. He was just hitting his prime!
Finally, the heavens opened up and the fountains of the deep burst forth with such power that mountains were displaced and rocks went flying, destroying life on earth. That lasted 40 days and 40 nights. Then what? The water stayed on the face of the earth for how long? Genesis 7:24 says, for 150 days. How many months is that? 4 months. Then what?
God took a big puff of air and a huge wind storm dried up the waters, Genesis 8:1. This brought the water level down, and the ark rested on the mountains of Ararat, which is believed to be in Turkey. This was in the 7th month. When Noah and his family came out of the ark, what did he find? What was the condition of the earth? Starting all over. God called Noah to offer sacrifices to the Lord on the altar, thus the reason for bringing 7 of every clean animal and only 2 of every unclean, Genesis 8:20. Also, the Lord permitted man to eat the flesh of clean animals for the first time.
So, back to our question: how long did Noah, his family and all the animals stay in the ark? Comparing Genesis 7:11 and 8:13-16, we see that they were in the ark for 1 year and 17 days! Even with a daily buffet, swimming pool and gym, that feat would be difficult. And remember, they had to scoop up the poop and feed all the beasts.
Visiting the Ark Encounter in Kentucky can give you a visual experience of what it might have been like aboard Noah’s ark. They would have brought aboard musical instruments, arts and crafts, but no literature. It is believed that the pre-flood time was an oral society and they could remember everything they heard. No need for sticky notes! The kitchen would have prepared healthy vegetarian meals and they would have had raised garden beds for growing fresh crops. They would have initially brought much grain and other resources but Noah was not given a time frame of how long they would have to remain inside the ark. Please do yourself a huge favor and visit the Ark Encounter as soon as possible. It’s just not the same reading about it.
Before we get to the Ice Age, let's think about what the earth's climate would have been like before the flood, during the time of the Patriarchs. Remember that it never rained, but the earth was watered how? By the dew of the atmosphere that came down at night.
Many creation scientists believe that the earth's climate at this time would have been subtropical, like the Amazon jungle, central Africa, or the south pacific. It was a lush forest with plenty of vegetation and a wide variety of plants. There would have been no polar caps during this time. No south and north poles. Those came later during the ice age. The flood caused many changes to the climate of the earth.
During the Flood, there had been an enormous amount of volcanic activity and geological activity taking place. In order for the fountains of the deep to break open, what must happen? That's right, a volcano erupts in the ocean. Guess what, that's a lot of heat bursting up out from the center of the earth. What conditions are needed for an ice age to occur? An ice age is when the earth is mostly covered in ice. It's not extreme cold. You need cold, but not extreme. You need cold and precipitation. Secular scientists and evolutionists believe that the Earth experienced several ice ages over time. However, the chronological history contained in the Bible does not support this theory of several ice ages. If we look at the evidence in the earth, we see only one ice age.
The leading secular view holds that there were at least 4 major ice ages, each exhibiting periods of glaciers advancing and retreating over hundreds of thousands of years. The biblical model holds that there was only one ice age, and it came about as a result of the global flood.
This example is from a display at the Ark Encounter in Kentucky. “In 1942, six P38 fighter planes and two B-17 bombers were forced to land on the ice of Greenland. The planes were abandoned and practically forgotten. Nearly 40 years later a search was made to recover the planes, but they were not located until 1988 when advanced radar spotted them 250 feet below the surface.
In 1992 an expedition bored a hole and retrieved the plane piece by piece. Now known as Glacier Girl, this plane has been restored and flown once again in 2002.
The fact that these planes were buried under more than 250 feet of snow and ice in less than 50 years reveals the unreliability of using so-called annual layers as a dating method. The bore hole from the Lost Squadron expedition revealed far more than 50 “annual” layers because multiple layers can form every year. Observational science supports the biblical timeline and contradicts popular teaching about millions of years.”
During the ice age, ice would have covered much of the earth from the north and the south, and leave a cool area along the equator. The duration would have been several hundred years to up to 1,000 years and this would have formed the north and south polar caps.
Now, our earth is terrible! But what will the new world look like when we come back from heaven after the millennium? God will create a new paradise that will be our forever home. I think it will look a lot like the garden of Eden, and even better.
In 1991, two German hikers discovered a frozen man. “Otzi” is the well-preserved natural mummy of a man who lived between 3400 and 3100 BCE. The mummy was found in September 1991 in the Ötztal Alps, hence the nickname "Ötzi", near Similaun mountain and Hauslabjoch on the border between Austria and Italy. He is Europe's oldest known natural human mummy, and has offered an unprecedented view of Chalcolithic (Copper Age) Europeans. His body and belongings are displayed in the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, South Tyrol, Italy.
A man herding reindeer in Russia's Arctic found the perfectly-preserved, body of a baby woolly mammoth. Evolutionists suggest this is 40,000 years old. But the biblical model shows that this baby elephant got frozen during the one ice age this earth experienced soon after the flood. Which would make it about 4,000 years old. We have the scientific evidence that backs up the historical account of God’s word. Let us move forward with the assurance of God’s promises concerning the last days, as it were in Noah’s time.
After the flood, Noah and his family and all the animals came out of the ark. What did God welcome them with? Yes, His promise, the rainbow. Ezekiel also saw this in vision of the throne of God, “As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness roundabout. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake” (Ezekiel 1:28).
Revelation 4:3 says, “ And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.” Every time we see that rainbow, may we remember the promise and love of our Father!