The Flood
by Terry Wane Benton
"By which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water" (II Peter 3:6).
The “world” Peter is discussing is not the world of Judaism. He is not speaking metaphorically of Judaism. That is sometimes read into the passage. It is not the matter under discussion here. What world are we talking about here? It is the physical world that God destroyed with a literal worldwide flood, as recorded in Genesis 6-9. That flood covered all the high mountains, and everything that had the breath of life perished (Genesis 7:20-23). Only Noah and his family survived. All that was on the dry land died. That is no reference to Judaism. It is the literal earth on which all land creatures, including mankind, have lived. The flood was not local, as all creatures could easily survive by moving out of the way. It was a flood that took out all life that was not on the ark and did not live in the water.
Peter doesn’t seem to care about scoffers denying such a flood. To him, it was self-evident. It really is! Our land is marked up by the upheavals of earthquakes and fountains of water spewing up from the ground mixed with lava flows and volcanic action and settling through water. Uniform layers do not indicate millions of years of uniform build-up. It reveals the deposits laid down by settling from huge amounts of water. This is the reason for so much fossil evidence of animals buried quickly in mud, of water layers, and washing and wind action to dry the waters and mud into layers. These reflect the waters separated from land in Genesis 1, the flood waters of Genesis 7-8, and the aftermath of settling and wind forces that blew to dry up the waters afterward. Fossils of marine life on the tops of mountains all show evidence of the flood and the aftermath of settling and shifting and settling grounds after the flood.
God’s testimony and the evidence tell the same story. Jesus, the Son of God, proven by miracles and the evidence of His resurrection, testifies to the truthful and factual account of the Genesis flood. So, scoffers are the ignorant ones. They “willfully forget” what is not convenient to their prejudice. As I look at the landscape of our world, I see evidence of the flood. Looking down at the earth from an airplane, I see evidence of the flood. When I visit caverns and caves, I see evidence of the flood. I don’t buy into the naturalistic explanations that ignore the watermarks or try to explain them without consideration for God’s testimony about what happened.
The world that then existed, pre-flood, perished because it was indeed “flooded with water.” Peter, guided by the Spirit, knew it was so. Jesus, the Son of God, knew it was so. The scoffer ignores the evidence and laughs it off. That is no way to be a reasonable person. Therefore, go back to the pure word of God and listen to God’s pure testimony. Science does not disprove the testimony of God. It agrees with it! Therefore, equip your mind with God’s testimony to know the truth and when scoffers get so much wrong. Be discerning between what people with limited knowledge and wisdom say versus what the all-knowing God gives as pure words of true testimony. We don’t need to feel embarrassed over the flood narrative of divinely attested history. The evidence is on the side of the Genesis narrative. The physical evidence is all around us. Jesus, the Son of God, attested to the truth. Scoffers may scoff, but they are not dealing with the evidence. Don’t be deceived by scoffers!
