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EVIDENCE OF THE GLOBAL DELUGE

Jesus Christ testifies: “In the days of Noah, . . . the flood arrived and destroyed them all.”​—Luke 17:26, 27.

There is physical evidence that the pre-Flood earth was like a global “greenhouse” of uniform climate under the water canopy that God broke open to cause the cataclysm of the Flood:

Scientific Monthly, August 1949: “In those days the earth had a tropical or sub-tropical climate over much of its land surface . . . The land was low and there were no high mountains.”

Science et Vie, July 1966: “[Antarctica] was once a green land where streams flowed among flowers, where birds sang in the trees.”

Science News, October 4, 1975: “In almost every culture . . . emerge strikingly similar tales of a great flood that swept away emerging civilizations and changed the face of the earth. New evidence gathered from sea-floor cores . . . confirms the existence of such a universal deluge.”

The Deluge Story in Stone, by Byron C. Nelson: “The way fishes by the millions are entombed in the rocks of England, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Switzerland, the American Rockies; the way elephants and rhinoceroses are buried by the millions in Alaska, Siberia, England, Italy, Greece; . . . the way reptiles are buried by the millions in western Canada, the United States, South America, Africa, Australia, to mention only a portion of such instances, absolutely require the explanation of great catastrophes for their elucidation.”

Monarchs and Tombs and Peoples​—The Dawn of the Orient, by Prince Mikasa: “Was there really a Flood? As a result of excavations by archaeologists in recent years, the fact that the flood actually took place has been convincingly proved.”

12. By what means did God bring the deluge on the earth? (2 Peter 3:5, 6)

¹² This deluge was to be no mere local rainstorm or flood limited to the Euphrates Valley. In that event, God could have simply led Noah’s family and the animals to nearby hills for protection. But no! This flood was to be of global proportions. So God had Noah build an ark of preservation, according to the design that He provided. After God had closed the door on Noah and the animals in the ark, He broke up the waters “above the expanse”​—the great deep that he had separated from the waters on the earth during the “second day” of creation.

“All the springs of the vast watery deep were broken open and the floodgates of the heavens were opened. And the downpour upon the earth went on for forty days and forty nights.”​—Genesis 1:6-8; 7:11, 12.

13. What happened to Noah and his family, and to wicked men and angels? (Jude 6)

¹³ Imagine that cataclysm! An entire heavens of waters crashing down on the earth, overwhelming every living thing, and covering all the mountains! The tremendous pressures involved would bring about great changes on the surface of the earth, pushing up mountain ranges and forming depressions to receive the waters. Within the space of about one year these had receded into the oceans as we know them today. It was only by a miracle of God that the frail ark, with its precious cargo of eight humans and two of each kind of beast and bird (or seven in the case of clean animals), was able to survive. Wicked Nephilim and humans and all other living creatures on the surface of the earth perished.